Mrs. Coretta Scott King was an extraordinary woman. Born in April 1927 in Alabama, she spent her childhood on her parent's farm.

Her love of music and education would be fostered by her mother. She learned to play musical instruments like the trumpet and the piano and sang as a soloist at school functions. She was a levelheaded student and flourished in school. She would enroll in Antioch College, Ohio, where her sister would be the first black student to live on campus.

Mrs. King would eventually be a part of many historical events during her childhood and adulthood. Her father, Obediah Scott, was the first black person in the district in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama, to own a truck and eventually open a country store. Her mother, as eccentric as she was, refused to allow...