Kings for our Time: Revisiting Martin and Coretta Scott King

In 1986, at the first big conference of King scholars, Coretta Scott King called for more women scholars the next time a conference was held on her husband’s work. Nearly 40 years later, this panel answers that call. In this in-person event on “Revisiting Martin and Coretta Scott King” leading scholars of Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King and the Black freedom movement come together to see both Martin and Coretta Scott King anew. Jeanne Theoharis will discuss her new book King of the North: Martin Luther King’s Life of Struggle Outside the South, which details the Kings’ experiences coming of age in graduate school in the segregated North and their lifelong challenge to Northern racism, the limits of Northern racism and colonialism at home and abroad. Beverly Guy Sheftall will share new work on Coretta Scott King’s support of LGBTQI+ communities, and renowned activist and author Barbara Smith will discuss the Kings in history and memory paying particular attention to the context of the Black feminist movement.