At Mrs. King’s funeral, a mix of elegy and politics 10 years ago today (Feb 7 2006)


Video: 'Clips from Coretta Scott King's funeral'

(Tuesday, February 7, 2006)Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was laid to rest today, after a funeral where white-gloved ushers welcomed 15,000 people, including four presidents, three governors, three planeloads of Congress members, celebrities, gospel stars and leading figures of the civil rights movement.

The six-hour service, held in the vast two-tiered sanctuary of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church just outside Atlanta, was marked by elegiac moments, standing ovations, and, with the Clintons and Bushes sharing a podium, some overt political gibes about the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.