TIWH: June 18th

June 18, 2010 | by Daniella Flores

June 18, 1953

Martin Luther King Jr. & Coretta Scott

On this day in 1953, famed civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott were married. They were introduced to each other through friend Mary Powell. Scott, however, was more preoccupied with her own music career than with marriage, and was wary of marrying a Baptist minister. It is said that she wasn’t impressed with his height during their initial meeting (he stood at 5′7″), but once he began to talk, he “grew in stature.” Because of his intellect and sophistication, he grew on her, and King assured her that she had “everything I have ever wanted in a wife.”

After he proposed, she decided to think it through…for six months. Eventually, she accepted. The couple married at the home of the bride’s family near Marion, Alabama. With 350 guests, it was the biggest wedding anyone in the area had ever seen. King’s father, who presided over the ceremony, was shocked at Scott’s request to remove the promise to obey her husband from the wedding vows, as she was adamant about remaining her own woman. He reluctantly agreed.

The couple had four children, and remained together until King’s death in 1968.