4 Introduction Listen to Coretta Scott King in any recorded interview Notice that her speech is lyrical and measured like music It is for this reason that I wrote her biography as a collection of poetry and prose I wanted to capture the musical quality of her voice and bearing The poetry forms in this book include acrostics free verse haiku and tanka poems Make time to write your own poetry Use your words to celebrate the people in history who inspire you to pursue freedom and justice for all
5 Contents 1927 6 THIS BITTER EARTH 8 1937 10 ALABAMA FIRE 12 1945 14 JIM CROW OHIO 16 1951 18 WHAT MAMA SAID 20 1955 22 THE MOVEMENT 24 1960 26 CALLED 28 1964 30 FREEDOM ROAD 1966 34 32 DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE 36 1968 38 LIFE AFTER DEATH 40 2006 42 TIMELINE 44 AUTHOR'S NOTE 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 48
1927 Alabama soil A fertile plain of black earth Coretta was born
