Alabama State University News May 3, 2012 Bernice King Visits ASU for Booksigning By Timothy Ervin Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, visited the ASU campus on April 28 and autographed copies of a book about her mother's life. Coretta Scott King is perhaps best known as the wife of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but she also was an author, an activist, and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in her own right. On Saturday, April 28 -- the day after what would have been Coretta Scott King's 85th birthday -- her daughter, Bernice King, visited Alabama State University to unveil her newly published book, Desert Rose: The Life and Legacy of Coretta Scott King. Bernice King helped publish the book as a way to carry forth her mother's legacy and to honor her mother's only sister, Edythe Scott Bagley, who wrote the book and died shortly after it was completed. For Bagley, the book had become a lifelong quest - to tell the story of her sister's rise from rural Alabama to the heights of American history as the wife of civil rights legend, Martin Luther King Jr. Bagley had been working on the book on and off for 45 years, but not until she got a boost from Bernice King did the book finally go to print. "Aunt Edythe passed away in June 2011," Bernice said. "I know that this was something she really wanted to get done and completed. She urged me to get it done. I was feeling pretty bad, because her health was declining." Bernice said that there are a lot of things people don't know about her mother. She said she even learned a lot when she first read the manuscripts.. "I learned that my mother was once engaged," Bernice said. "I thought my dad was the first. That was news to me." She said she hopes the book emphasizes the fact that her mother, more than anyone else, is responsible for the manner in which we remember the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. "She was side by side with him in keeping the message of nonviolence alive in society," she said. "She made extraordinary sacrifices." For more information about the book, visit http://www.corettascottking.org/desertrose. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.