Whereas, Coretta Scott King, born on April 27, 1927, to Obie Leonard Scott and Bernice McMurray Scott in Perry County, Alabama, graduated from Lincoln High School, a private black institution with an integrated faculty; and,

Whereas, Excelling in her studies, particularly in music, Coretta attended Antioch College in Ohio, where she received her B.A. in music and elementary education in 1949, and it was at Antioch where she took an active interest in the national civil rights movements, joining the Antioch chapter of the NAACP, the Young Progressives, and the college’s Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees; and,

Whereas, Following her graduation from Antioch, Coretta received a grant from the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and she enrolled at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music in 1951, where she eventually earned a Bachelor of Music degree in voice, and it was here that she met Martin Luther King, Jr., a doctoral candidate at Boston University’s School of Theology, and two years later they were married on June 18, 1953; and,

Whereas, It was soon after their marriage, that her husband rose to the public conscience, organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and sparking the civil rights movement; and,

Whereas, Both Coretta and Martin were inspired by the non-violence teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, and in February 1959, several days after Martin met with Walter Reuther, President of the United Auto Workers in Detroit, Dr. and Mrs. King traveled to India as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru to study Gandhi’s protest march techniques of nonviolence and to pay tribute; and,

Whereas, Together, Coretta and Martin Luther King, Jr., stood side by side during many of the major civil rights campaigns of the 1950’ s and 60’s; they marched for equality through city after city, inspiring citizens, both black and white, to strike down the segregation laws and work for economic justice for all; and,

Whereas, After his death in 1968, Coretta continued to devote her life to her husband’s philosophy of nonviolence, and just a few days after his passing, she led a march on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, and later that same month, substituted for her husband at an anti-Vietnam War rally in New York; and,

Whereas, In 1969, Coretta led the effort to create the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, which contains an exhibition hall, a restoration of the King childhood home, an Institute for Afro-American Studies, a library containing her husband’s papers, and a museum, all of which receives over one million visitors a year and has taught thousands of students, teachers, community leaders, and administrators Dr. King’s nonviolence philosophy through seminars, workshops, and training programs; and now therefore be it,

Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of the State of Michigan, do hereby proclaim February 10, 2006, as Coretta Scott King Day in Michigan.  Though she will be missed it is comforting to know that she is once again standing next to her husband, inspiring us to continue the good work they started.