La Bene Vita

Music & the Kings

Most people know that Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was born the son of a Baptist minister in Atlanta. Did you also know how his musical upbringing connected MLK with his wife, Coretta Scott King and her family?

The Bride
Coretta Scott grew up in the small, segregated town of Heiberger, Alabama, where her parents owned a store. Her mother, Bernice, played piano at church. Coretta inherited her mother's musical talent: she was the leading soprano in the high school's senior chorus, played trumpet and piano, participated in school musicals, and even directed a choir at her place of worship. So it's no surprise that when she received a scholarship to Antioch College in Ohio from the Antioch Program for Interracial Education, she studied music. She also became politically active there, due to racial discrimination.

The Groom
Like Coretta Scott, Martin Luther King was also the child of a church piano player. He was memorizing hymns at age five and singing them in church by six. Later he developed a love for opera, sang in choir, and studied violin and piano. His mother, Alberta Williams King, served as the organist at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for forty years. King's favorite hymns included "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord".

The Courtship
Coretta transferred from Antioch in 1951 and met Martin Luther King when the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston awarded her a scholarship to study voice under the tutelage of classical soprano, Marie Sundelius. At first, Coretta wasn't interested in marriage, but they shared a love of music and a passion for civil rights. Eventually, she warmed up to the idea, but she had to come to terms with the likelihood that marrying a pastor would mean giving up her dream career in the music industry. And then, when they finally did agree to wed, they had to convince King's parents that she was right for King.

The Engagement
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott announced their engagement in the Atlanta Daily World on Valentine's Day 1953 and married on June 18 of that year. Coretta did complete her degree - in both voice and piano - before the couple moved to Montgomery, Alabama in the fall of 1954. The rest is history.

The Playlist
I ran across this playlist published by Princeton in 2021, which highlights both music that Dr. King favored and music that was published posthumously in his honor. Enjoy:

Collective Listening Project
Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Playlist No. 40  

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Williams_King
https://www.ebenezeratl.org/our-history/