Church mourns Mrs. King

ATLANTA (AP) — Hundreds yesterday mourned the loss of Coretta Scott King in services at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband preached in the 1960s and the civil rights matriarch remained a member until her death.

“Praise God for Coretta Scott King; let the heavens rejoice for the witness of our sister,” the Rev. Raphael Warnock told the congregation after a rousing rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Later in the church’s Heritage Sanctuary, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Women’s Organizational Movement for Equality Now honored the widow of Martin Luther King for her quiet and courageous strength as a leader, wife and mother.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin thanked Mrs. King and others who worked “so that someone who was African-American and female could lead this great city.”

In Detroit, the Rev. Al Sharpton remembered Mrs. King at the Historic Little Rock Baptist Church.

“Mrs. King is not history because she is dignified,” Mr. Sharpton said. “Yes, she was dignified. Yes, she had grace. Yes, she was regal, but that doesn’t make her history. She is history because her husband and her stood up for what was right.”

Today, Mrs. King’s body will lie in honor in Ebenezer’s Heritage Sanctuary in the historically black Atlanta neighborhood where her husband was born.

Across the street in the church’s Horizon Sanctuary, several civil rights leaders will attend a service remembering Mrs. King tonight.

“It’s the least we can do for the many sacrifices she made,” Mr. Warnock said. “It is fitting for us to honor her. We join with people all over the world in celebration of her life.”

Mrs. King’s funeral will be held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Lithonia.

Mrs. King, known as the “first lady of the civil rights movement,” died last Monday at age 78. She had been at an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico, where doctors said she was battling advanced ovarian cancer. She also had been recovering from a serious stroke and heart attack.

On Saturday, thousands of mourners poured into the Georgia Capitol rotunda to pay tribute to Mrs. King, the first woman and the first black person to lie in honor in what once was once a seat of segregation.