Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King

Women for a Meaningful Summit

Women for a Meaningful Summit was based at 2401 Virginia Ave NW, Washington DC.

As of May 31, 1989, 'National co-chairs were;

• Jane Alexander
• Congresswoman Barbara Boxer
• Coretta Scott King
• Congresswoman Claudine Schneider
• Joanne Woodward

Hospital workers strike

A pivotal moment in South Carolina's history came in 1969, when hospital workers in Charleston went on strike to demand union representation.

Tensions in the city increased. Andrew Young and Coretta Scott King, one year after her husband's assassination, led a huge downtown march. About 900 were arrested during the turmoil, and 5,000 National Guard troops were called into the city.

Bill Saunders, a militant leader groomed by Jenkins, negotiated directly with Gov. Robert E. McNair, who a little more than one year earlier had ordered state troopers to rein in protesting blacks on the campus of S.C. State College in an episode that would end tragically with three dead and 28 injured.

"In the end, a crucial call came to the governor's office from White House aide Harry Dent, former top staffer for Senator (Strom) Thurmond," according to "The Palmetto State" by Jack Bass and W. Scott Poole, . "His message amounted to an ultimatum from the White House: get the strike settled."

The Medical College Hospital backed down. Mary Moultrie and other workers celebrated.

Instrumental in negotiating a final settlement were a young James Clyburn, a schoolteacher and director of the South Carolina Commission of Farm Workers, and Robert Ford, an organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Socialist Debs award

Every year since the mid 1960s the Indiana based Eugene V. Debs Foundation holds Eugene Debs Award Banquet in Terre Haute, to honor an approved social or labor activist. The 1982 honoree, was Coretta Scott King.

Alabama event

According to Danzy Senna, Stanford Daily Editorial staff;

Nine Stanford students joined leaders from across the nation last week in Selma, Ala., to re-enact and commemorate a 1965 voting rights march and discuss the unfinished business of the civil rights movement. The Stanford group, calling itself "Project Democracy II," went to record the history of the original march, called "Bloody Sunday" because it ended in bloodshed and violence, but in the process found a new chapter of history being written before its eyes. "I was figuring we'd meet some of our civil rights heroes, we'd sing some freedom songs and that would be it," said senior Stephen Ostrander, "but right away we realized that the struggle was still going on." The group found that the newest emphasis in the civil rights movement is on educational rights.

Present were Lyzette Settle, Dana Johnson, Kimera Koff, Jay Tucker and Michelle Graves marching behind a Black Student Union banner. As well as Steve Phillips, Canetta Ivy, and Christy Brady.

Leaders of the week long event included Jesse Jackson, Rose Sanders, Hosea Williams, Coretta Scott King and Rep. John Lewis.

Supported Peurto Rican rebel prisoners

In 1999, eleven imprisoned Puerto Rican independence fighters qwre released on parole from long prison terms in the US. they were Eliam Escobar, Dylcia Pagan, Alberto Rodriguez, Ida Luz Rodriguez, Alejandrina Torres, Adolfo Matos, Edwin Cortes, Ricardo Jiminez, Luis Rosa, Alicia Rodriguez and Carmen Valentin. A twelfth prisoner Juan Segarra Palmer, accepted an offer to nullify his fine and was due to be released in five years. Two other prisoners Antonio Comacho Negron and Oscar Lopez Rivera refused the clemency offer.

The clemency offers came after a long campaign that saw 75,000 people sign a petition in Puerto Rico and the US. The campaign, led by the Pro-Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico, involved such activists as Coretta Scott King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchu and Dr. Aaron Tolen, President of the World Council of Churches.

Political leaders who supported the prisoners included Reps Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Nydia Velazquez (D, NY), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Ron Dellums (D-Calif.) and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

DC rights march

The Aug. 23 2003 march on Washington that marked the 40th anniversary of the giant 1963 Civil Rights March led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was noted for its strong anti-war mood. Thousands of people from across the country streamed onto the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the historic march, which featured Dr. King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

The night before this year's march, Yolanda King hosted a "spit in" geared toward younger activists. Many people took the stage for five minutes each to "spit" poetry against war, about growing up poor and oppressed, about police brutality and other injustices to illustrate that the "dream" has not been realized by most working people in this country.

Throughout the weekend the speakers who received the loudest ovations were those who demanded an end to the occupation of Iraq.

Among the speakers were three presidential candidates--the Rev. Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun and Howard Dean; historic civil-rights leaders such as James Forman, Coretta Scott King and Jesse Jackson; representatives of the civil-rights/peace-and-justice movement like NOW Executive Director Kim Gandy, National Lesbian and Gay Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman, Damu Smith of Black Voices for Peace, Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice, James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, Raul Yzaguirre of La Raza, and Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Association, who invited everyone to come back for the Oct. 25 march against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. National youth and student leaders and church representatives also spoke.

References

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