Coretta Scott King lies in state at Georgia Capitol

Feb 5, 2006, 11:25 GMT

Washington - Coretta Scott King, the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., made history in death as she became the first woman and first African-American to lie in state Saturday at the Georgia state Capitol.

In the heart of the once-segregated South, it was an event of great symbolism to so honour King, who remained a prominent civil rights campaigner even after her husband's assassination in 1968.

Coretta Scott King died Monday at age 78, suffering from ovarian cancer and since last year the crippling effects of a stroke.

After lying Saturday under the Georgia state Capitol dome, King's body will be taken for viewing Monday to Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband once preached. The historic church stands next to the King Centre, founded by Coretta Scott King to continue her husband's legacy of fighting racial discrimination and promoting nonviolence.

Her husband's funeral was held at Ebenezer Baptist after he was assassinated at a civil rights rally in Tennessee.

King's funeral service will be held Tuesday at Atlanta's largest predominantly African-American church - New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a huge sanctuary that can seat up to 10,000 people.

The funeral is expected to attract a cast of notables, including singer Stevie Wonder.

The funeral parlour in charge of arrangements, Willie Watkins, said that she wanted to be buried next to her husband at the King Centre.

Coretta Scott King played a key role in mobilizing the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. With national stature, she attended many presidential inaugurations - including that of President George W. Bush in 2001.

She was an outspoken critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq, saying war was a 'poor chisel for carving out a peaceful future.'

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a leading civil rights advocate and two-time US presidential candidate, called Coretta Scott King an 'authentic freedom fighter.'

Born Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama, where she grew up, she met her husband while studying concert singing in Boston. They were married on June 18, 1953 and lived in Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta, which became epicentres of the civil rights movement.

They had four children who have continued working for civil rights through acting, writing, administrating the King Centre and other activism.