Widow Of Martin Luther King To Speak For Divinity School

Noted civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., will speak at Harvard on March 10.

King is president and chief executive officer of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change, which she founded in 1968, following her husband's death.

The Atlanta-based King Center works to promote civil rights by holding seminars, workshops, and training programs, as well as sponsoring demonstrations for peaceful social change.

King's speech, which is sponsored by the Divinity School, will be held in Memorial Church at 8 p.m.

"She's a natural for us" to invite to speak at Harvard, said Michael West, Divinity School spokesman. He said that the school invited King to speak because of the religious dimension of the civil rights movement.

King has continued the work of her husband Martin Luther King, Jr. which "specifically has roots in the Christian ethic of non-violence," said West. He said King "is a conspicuous person in the civil rights movement."

West said that the topic of King's speech has not yet been chosen. King could not be reached for comment.

The first woman to speak at a Harvard commencement, King delivered the Class Day address in June 1968. Students had originally asked Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak, but he was murdered two months before graduation.

Following his assassination, Coretta King spoke in her husband's place. In her talk, King criticized the Vietnam war and President Lyndon B. Johnson's response to the assassination of her husband.