美国国家公共电台 NPR--Boston unveils a sculpture of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King

Boston unveils a sculpture of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King

Transcript¹

Coretta Scott King was a young woman living in Boston when she met Martin Luther King. GBH took a closer look at her life as part of the unveiling of a monument commemorating² the couple's meeting.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

In Boston over the weekend, a massive sculpture dedicated³ to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled in a downtown park. The sculpture is called "The Embrace." And while they're being honored as a couple, Coretta Scott achieved much on her own. Phillip Martin of member station GBH reports.

PHILLIP MARTIN, BYLINE⁴: Coretta Scott was originally from the Deep South. She had attended Antioch College in Ohio in 1951 before getting a scholarship to the New England Conservatory⁵ of Music.

ANDREA KALYN: It was not an easy thing to get into the conservatory. It isn't now; it wasn't then. And so she was very talented.

MARTIN: But Coretta Scott came here psychologically wounded from the bigotry⁶ she experienced in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Andrea Kalyn is the president of the New England Conservatory of Music.

KALYN: She actually ended up leaving Antioch because she confronted some really hideous⁷ instances of racism⁸. And so she came to NEC, and she started out as a voice major. It was a struggle for her financially, and really was pursuing something she loved at some considerable sacrifice.

MARTIN: A considerable sacrifice indeed, says Clennon King, no relation to the civil rights leader he writes about as an historian. King says though Coretta Scott was given a full scholarship, she was destitute⁹.

CLENNON KING: I mean, she was scrubbing floors 'cause all she had was that scholarship. She had to eat. She had to get down from Beacon¹⁰ Hill, down to that campus. And she had to study.

MARTIN: She paid for room and board working as a maid. Coretta had come to New England with $15 in her purse and a determination to be an opera singer. She was a soprano. So was her classmate, La Verne Weston, one of a handful of Black students at the conservatory. They met standing¹¹ in line.

LA VERNE EAGLESON: I just happened to turn around, and there was this Black girl standing next to me. And I said, my name is La Verne Weston. She said, well, my name is - and it took her 15 minutes to say her name. And she told me she was from Ohio.

MARTIN: Weston, who goes by La Verne Eagleson today, is now 92. She says she could not tell at the time if Coretta Scott's hesitancy to talk about herself was due to shyness or another reason.

EAGLESON: I was already 21, and she was older than I. And I think that might have had something to do with it, and the fact that she did not live in the dormitory, so we didn't have that in common. But we were friendly.

MARTIN: Documentarian Clennon King says Coretta Scott's schedule left little time for socializing among the tiny community of Black college students. It was a small world, and La Verne Eagleson met and dated Martin Luther King Jr. before Coretta even knew who he was.

EAGLESON: I went to this restaurant and sat down to eat, and this guy sat across from me - very well dressed in a three-piece suit. And he kept staring at me. And I said, oh, my goodness. And he said, you ordered the same thing I did. You know, we chatted. And on that particular Sunday, he told me he was going to kill Jim Crow.

MARTIN: Eagleson came to realize MLK's comment was not a prediction. It was a plan. Clennon King says Coretta Scott was in year two of her studies at the conservatory and still scrubbing floors on Beacon Hill when she began dating her future husband.

KING: How everything changed was when she caught the eye of Mike, otherwise known as Martin Luther King.

MARTIN: Coretta Scott graduated in June of 1954. She did not become an opera singer but used her talents in other ways. In the fall of 1963, Coretta Scott King sang "A Balm In Gilead" at the funeral of four Black little girls murdered in the terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Conservatory President Andrea Kalyn says the school is forever grateful to Coretta Scott, who she says was great before she was King.

KALYN: Coretta, as an alum, took her music and created change for the world.

MARTIN: A bust¹² of Coretta Scott King sits in the library of the Conservatory of Music, and each year, a concert is held in her name.

For NPR News, I'm Phillip Martin in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIM BRACE'S "THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 commemorating   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

6 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

7 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

8 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

9 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

10 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。