Coretta Scott King

== Childhood and education ==
Coretta Scott was born in [[Heiberger, Alabama]], the third of four children of Obadiah Scott (1899–1998) and Bernice McMurry Scott (1904–1996). She was born in her parents' home, with her paternal great-grandmother Delia Scott, a former slave, presiding as midwife. Coretta's mother became known for her musical talent and singing voice. As a child, Bernice attended the local Crossroads School; her formal education ended with the fourth grade. Bernice's older siblings, however, boarded at the [[Tuskegee Institute]], founded by [[Booker T. Washington]]. The senior Mrs. Scott worked as a school bus driver, as a church pianist, and for her husband in his business. She served as Worthy Matron for her [[Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star]]<nowiki/>chapter, and was a member of the local Literacy Federated Club.<ref name="Schraff">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez47z1Dy-wUC&q=mollie | title=Coretta Scott King: striving for civil rights | publisher=Enslow Publishers | author=Schraff, Anne E. | year=1997 | page=14 | isbn=0894908111 | access-date=June 16, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019043605/https://books.google.com/books?ei=9BXlUua2EeGqyAGs3IG4DA&id=ez47z1Dy-wUC&dq=%2B%22coretta+scott+king%22+%2B%22part+native+american%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=mollie | archive-date=October 19, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bruns">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun | url-access=registration | quote=Bernice McMurray Scott indian. | title=Martin Luther King, Jr: A Biography | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | author=Bruns, Roger | year=2006 | page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun/page/25 25] | isbn=0313336865 | access-date=March 3, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802065621/https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun | archive-date=August 2, 2020 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bagley">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/desertroselifele0000bagl | url-access=registration | title=Desert Rose: The Life and Legacy of Coretta Scott King | publisher=The University of Alabama Press | author=Bagley, Edyth Scott | year=2012 | location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama | pages=[https://archive.org/details/desertroselifele0000bagl/page/17 17]–19 | isbn=978-0-8173-1765-2 | access-date=March 3, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802070639/https://archive.org/details/desertroselifele0000bagl | archive-date=August 2, 2020 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Obie, Coretta's father, was one of the first black people in their town to own a vehicle. Before starting his own businesses, he worked as a policeman. Along with his wife, he ran a clothing shop far from their home and later opened a general store. He also owned a [[sawmill|lumber mill]], which was burned down by white neighbors after Scott refused to sell his mill to a white logger.<ref>{{cite book |title=My Life, My Love, My Legacy | publisher=Henry Holt and Company | author=King, Coretta Scott and Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds | date=January 17, 2017 | page=11 | isbn=9781627795999}}</ref> Her maternal grandparents were Mollie (née Smith; 1868 – d.) and Martin van Buren McMurry (1863–1950) – both were of African-American and Irish descent.<ref name="Bagley"/> Mollie was born a slave to plantation owners Jim Blackburn and Adeline (Blackburn) Smith. Coretta's maternal grandfather, Martin, was born to a slave of [[Black Indians|Black Native American]] ancestry, and her white master who never acknowledged Martin as his son. He eventually owned a 280-acre farm. Because of his diverse origins, Martin appeared to be [[White people|white]]. However, he displayed contempt for the notion of [[Passing (racial identity)|passing]]. As a self-taught reader with little formal education, he is noted for having inspired Coretta's passion for education. Coretta's paternal grandparents were Cora (née McLaughlin; 1876 – 1920) and Jefferson F. Scott (1873–1941). Cora died before Coretta's birth. Jeff Scott was a farmer and a prominent figure in the rural black religious community; he was born to former slaves Willis and Delia Scott.<ref name="Bagley"/>

At age 10, Coretta worked to increase the family's income.<ref>Gelfand, p. 17.</ref> She had an older sister named [[Edythe Scott Bagley]] (1924–2011), an older sister named Eunice who did not survive childhood, and a younger brother named Obadiah Leonard (1930–2012).<ref name="Gale"/> The Scott family had owned a farm since the [[American Civil War]], but were not particularly wealthy.<ref name="Vivian2006">{{cite book|author=Octavia B. Vivian|title=Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King|url=https://archive.org/details/corettastoryofco0000vivi|url-access=registration|quote=coretta scott king family owned farm since civil war.|date=April 30, 2006|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-3855-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/corettastoryofco0000vivi/page/27 27]|access-date=March 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802070348/https://archive.org/details/corettastoryofco0000vivi|archive-date=August 2, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Great Depression]] the Scott children picked cotton to help earn money<ref name="Gale">{{cite web|title=Coretta Scott King |work=Women's History |publisher=Gale Virtual Reference Library |url=http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/whm/bio/king_c_s.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202042853/http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/whm/bio/king_c_s.htm |archive-date=December 2, 2008 }}</ref> and shared a bedroom with their parents.<ref>Gelfand, p. 15.</ref>

Coretta described herself as a tomboy during her childhood, primarily because she could climb trees and recalled wrestling boys. She also mentioned having been stronger than a male cousin and threatening before accidentally cutting that same cousin with an axe. His mother threatened her, and along with the words of her siblings, stirred her to becoming more ladylike once she got older. She saw irony in the fact that despite these early physical activities, she still was involved in nonviolent movements.<ref>{{cite news| title= Coretta Scott King: My Childhood as a Tomboy / Growing into a Lady| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlFKG5p31k| publisher= Visionaryproject| access-date= October 5, 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131206221522/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlFKG5p31k| archive-date= December 6, 2013| url-status= live}}</ref> Her brother Obadiah thought she always "tried to excel in everything she did."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndsDAAAAMBAJ&q=ebony+coretta&pg=PA160|title=Coretta King|date = November 1968|work=[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]] |access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729163535/https://books.google.com/books?id=ndsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA160&dq=ebony+coretta|archive-date=July 29, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Her sister Edythe believed her personality was like that of their grandmother Cora McLaughlin Scott, after whom she was named.<ref>Bagley, p. 7.</ref> Though lacking formal education themselves, Coretta Scott's parents intended for all of their children to be educated. Coretta quoted her mother as having said, "My children are going to college, even if it means I only have but one dress to put on."<ref name=King2004>{{cite news|last=King |first=Coretta Scott |title=Address, Antioch Reunion 2004 |work=The Antiochian|date=Fall 2004|url=http://www.antioch-college.edu/Antiochian/archive/Antiochian_2004fall/reunion/king/index.html |access-date=September 10, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070501092417/http://www.antioch-college.edu/Antiochian/archive/Antiochian_2004fall/reunion/king/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = May 1, 2007}}</ref>

The Scott children attended a [[One-room school|one-room]] [[elementary school]] {{convert|5|mi|0}} from their home and were later bused to [[Lincoln Normal School]], which despite being {{convert|9|mi|0|abbr=on}} from their home, was the closest black [[high school]] in [[Marion, Alabama]], due to [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] in schools. The bus was driven by Coretta's mother Bernice, who bused all the local black teenagers.<ref name=Gale/> By the time Scott had entered the school, Lincoln had suspended tuition and charged only four dollars and fifty cents per year.<ref>Bagley, p. 62.</ref> In her last two years there, Scott became the leading soprano for the school's senior chorus. Scott directed a choir at her home church in North Perry Country.<ref>Bagley, pp. 65–66.</ref> Coretta Scott graduated [[valedictorian]] from Lincoln Normal School in 1945, where she played trumpet and piano, sang in the chorus, and participated in school musicals and enrolled at [[Antioch College]] in [[Yellow Springs, Ohio]] during her senior year at Lincoln. After being accepted to Antioch, she applied for the Interracial Scholarship Fund for financial aid.<ref>Bagley, p. 67.</ref> During her last two years in high school, Coretta lived with her parents.<ref name=Bagley58>Bagley, p. 58.</ref> Her older sister Edythe already attended Antioch as part of the Antioch Program for Interracial Education, which recruited non-white students and gave them full [[scholarship]]s in an attempt to diversify the historically white campus. Coretta said of her first college:

<blockquote>Antioch had envisioned itself as a laboratory in democracy but had no black students. (Edythe) became the first African American to attend Antioch on a completely integrated basis, and was joined by two other black female students in the fall of 1943. Pioneering is never easy, and all of us who followed my sister at Antioch owe her a great debt of gratitude.<ref name=King2004/></blockquote>

Coretta studied music with Walter Anderson, the first non-white chair of an academic department in a historically white college. She also became politically active, due largely to her experience of [[racial discrimination]] by the local [[board of education|school board]]. She became active in the nascent civil rights movement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP) and the college's Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. The board denied her request to perform her second year of required practice teaching at Yellow Springs public schools, for her teaching certificate Coretta Scott appealed to the Antioch College administration, which was unwilling or unable to change the situation in the local school system and instead employed her at the college's associated laboratory school for a second year. Additionally, around this time, Coretta worked as a babysitter for the Lithgow family, babysitting the later prominent actor [[John Lithgow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2017/john-lithgow-news-celebrity-interview.html|title=Upfront / What I Know Now: John Lithgow|last=Lithgow|first=John|date=August 24, 2017|website=[[AARP the Magazine]]|access-date=August 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825101935/http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2017/john-lithgow-news-celebrity-interview.html|archive-date=August 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>