| 1 | House Resolution |
| 2 | A resolution honoring the legacy of Coretta Scott King. |
| 3 |
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| 4 | WHEREAS, Coretta Scott, born and reared on the farm of |
| 5 | resourceful, hard-working parents in segregated rural Alabama, |
| 6 | was enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, |
| 7 | Massachusetts, when she met her future husband, whom she married |
| 8 | in 1953 and with whom a year later she moved to Montgomery, |
| 9 | Alabama, and |
| 10 | WHEREAS, following the arrest of Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott |
| 11 | King took her place at the side of her husband as he rallied |
| 12 | outraged citizens, black and white, to carry out the successful |
| 13 | boycott of the city's buses, and |
| 14 | WHEREAS, sharing as a full partner in her husband's ever- |
| 15 | broadening leadership role in the growing movement that would |
| 16 | change the South, ripple through the nation, and reach global |
| 17 | proportions, Mrs. King added her unique talents and skills to |
| 18 | the cause, and soon her acclaimed Freedom Concerts were being |
| 19 | performed throughout the nation while she became increasingly in |
| 20 | demand as a public speaker and a participant in various |
| 21 | international peace and justice organizations, and |
| 22 | WHEREAS, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther |
| 23 | King, Jr., in Memphis on April 4, 1968, while she considered the |
| 24 | couple's four children her first responsibility, Mrs. King was |
| 25 | determined to keep his dream alive and, just four days after his |
| 26 | death, took his place as leader of a march of 50,000 people |
| 27 | through the streets of Memphis, and |
| 28 | WHEREAS, Mrs. King continued and expanded the scope of the |
| 29 | work she had so zealously shared with her late husband, becoming |
| 30 | widely identified with a broad array of international human |
| 31 | rights issues, but her two major concerns were to establish the |
| 32 | Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in |
| 33 | Atlanta and to have her husband's birthday honored as a national |
| 34 | holiday, objectives realized with the opening of the Center in |
| 35 | 1981 and, in 1986, the first observance of January 15 as a |
| 36 | national holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, on January 30, 2006, at the age of 78, Coretta |
| 38 | Scott King passed away and a voice that had been fervently and |
| 39 | beautifully lifted in the cause of freedom and justice became |
| 40 | resoundingly silent, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 41 |
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| 42 | Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of |
| 43 | Florida: |
| 44 |
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| 45 | That the House of Representatives joins the nation in |
| 46 | mourning the death of Coretta Scott King, one of the world's |
| 47 | great leaders in the crusade for the rights of all people, but |
| 48 | derives great hope and encouragement from her life and legacy. |