An estimated crowd of 10,000 people turned out for the funeral of civil rights icon Coretta Scott King. Four U.S. presidents were present including Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. died at the age of 78 on January 30.
President Bush called King 'one of the most admired Americans of our time.' Bush told the crowd, 'I've come today to offer the sympathy of our entire nation at the passing of a woman who worked to make our nation whole.'
'Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own. Having loved a leader, she became a leader, and when she spoke, Americans listened closely,' he said.
Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta spoke of Mrs. King's stand against 'the senselessness of war and the solutions for poverty.'
'She sang for liberation, she sang for those who had no earthly reason to sing a song,' with a voice that was heard 'from the tintop roofs of Soweto to the bomb shelters of Baghdad,' Franklin said. 'She's gathered us here today from all walks of life and all persuasions to lift our voices in a song of freedom, equality, social and economic justice, not just for our own sake but for the sake of the children the world over.'
Viewing of the body began as early as 3:00 AM this morning. More than 160,000 mourners have come to view Mrs. King and pay their final respects.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey dedicated a show to Coretta Scott King and simply said, 'She leaves us all a better America than the America of her childhood.'
Monday night, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a powerful speech criticizing government leaders for speaking positively about Mrs. King's legacy while doing nothing for the poor and minorities who Mrs. King championed.
'We can't let them take her from us and reduce her to their trophy and not our freedom fighter,' Jackson said.
Mrs. King will be buried tomorrow in a crypt next to her husband's tomb. She had been a widow since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
