Coretta Scott King

=== The King Center ===
Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy and ideas of Martin Luther King Jr., leader of a nonviolent movement for justice, equality, and peace. Two days after her husband's funeral, King began planning $15&nbsp;million for funding the memorial.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19860117&id=O9k8AAAAIBAJ&pg=1201,603719|title=Coretta King determined as she pursues|work=[[Bangor Daily News]]|date=January 17, 1986|access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019043605/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19860117&id=O9k8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qi4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1201,603719|archive-date=October 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> She handed the reins as CEO and president of the King Center down to her son, Dexter Scott King.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome |publisher=The King Center |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/index.asp |access-date=September 10, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070909020247/http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/index.asp|archive-date=September 9, 2007 }}</ref> The Kings initially had difficulty gathering the papers since they were in different locations, including colleges he attended and archives. King had a group of supporters begin gathering her husband's papers in 1967, the year before his death.<ref>Bagley, p. 263.</ref> After raising funds from a private sector and the government, she financed the building of the complex in 1981.<ref>Dyson, pp. 270–271.</ref>

In 1984, she came under criticism by [[Hosea Williams]], one of her husband's earliest followers, for having used the King Center to promote "authentic material" on her husband's dreams and ideals, and disqualified the merchandise as an attempt to exploit her husband. She sanctioned the kit, which contained a wall poster, five photographs of King and his family, a cassette of the [[I Have a Dream]] speech, a booklet of tips on how to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and five postcards with quotations from King himself. She believed it to be the authentic way to celebrate the holiday honoring her husband, and denied Hosea's claims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Merchandising of Martin Luther King|publisher=Mike Gardner|year=1984|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBgmkQt1m9w|access-date=October 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206204927/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBgmkQt1m9w|archive-date=December 6, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

King sued her husband's alma mater of [[Boston University]] over who would keep over 83,000 documents in December 1987 and said the documents belonged with the King archives. However, her husband was held to his word by the university; he had stated after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 that his papers would be kept at the college. Coretta's lawyers argued that the statement was not binding and mentioned that King had not left a will at the time of his death.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsIDAAAAMBAJ&q=coretta+scott+king+jet|title=Coretta King, Boston Univ. Will Go to Court Over the Ownership of King Papers|date=February 3, 1992|work=Jet |access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019043605/https://books.google.com/books?id=RsIDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=coretta+scott+king+jet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YWDLUpr4B8PwoASf9YCwBg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=coretta%20scott%20king%20jet&f=false|archive-date=October 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> King testified that President of Boston University [[John R. Silber]] in a 1985 meeting demanded that she send the university all of her husband's documents instead of the other way around.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1993-04-28/news/mn-28207_1_king|title=Nation In Brief: Massachusetts: Mrs. King Describes Dispute Over Papers|date=April 28, 1993|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108051127/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-04-28/news/mn-28207_1_king|archive-date=January 8, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> King released the statement, "Dr. King wanted the south to be the repository of the bulk of his papers. Now that the King Center library and archives are complete and have one of the finest civil-rights collections in all the world, it is time for the papers to be returned home."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19871207&id=zP4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=4944,3063283|title=Coretta King sues school, seeks return of documents|date=December 7, 1987|work=[[The Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019043605/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19871207&id=zP4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=efwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4944,3063283|archive-date=October 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

On January 17, 1992, President [[George H. W. Bush]] laid a wreath at the tomb of her husband and met with and was greeted by King at the center. King praised Bush's support for the holiday, and joined hands with him at the end of a ceremony and sang "[[We Shall Overcome]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19920117&id=gd0rAAAAIBAJ&pg=4106,1445993|title=Bush commemorates King|date=January 17, 1992 |work=Kentucky New Era}}</ref>
On May 6, 1993, a court rejected her claims to the papers after finding that a July 16, 1964 letter from Martin Luther King to the institute had constituted a binding charitable pledge to the university and outright stating that Martin Luther King retained ownership of his papers until giving them to the university as gifts or his death. King, however, said her husband had changed his mind about allowing Boston University to keep the papers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-07/news/mn-32418_1_king-papers-mrs|title=Mrs. King Loses Court Fight to Get Her Husband's Papers|date=May 7, 1993|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108050737/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-07/news/mn-32418_1_king-papers-mrs|archive-date=January 8, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> After her son Dexter took over as the president of the King Center for the second time in 1994, King was given more time to write, address issues and spend time with her parents.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RT0DAAAAMBAJ&q=coretta+scott+king+jet&pg=PA5|title=Dexter King Will Succeed Mom Coretta Scott King As Chairman/CEO MLK Center|date=November 7, 1994|work=Jet |access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151201091708/https://books.google.com/books?id=RT0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=coretta+scott+king+jet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Py7PUtaTJo3coASbl4HYCQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=coretta%20scott%20king%20jet&f=false|archive-date=December 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>