On this day in vegan history · April 27, 1927
Coretta Scott King Goes Vegan
The widow who kept the civil rights movement moving decided nonviolence belonged on her plate too.
The facts
- Born
- April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, Alabama
- Introduced by
- Her son, Dexter Scott King
- By 2003
- She told Ebony she had eaten this way for "more than 12 years"
- Died
- January 30, 2006
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, Alabama, and after her husband's assassination she spent decades leading the institutions built around his legacy, including the fight to get his monument in Washington, D.C. told honestly. In the last years of her life, her son Dexter put the family on a vegan diet, and she stuck with it. By 2003 she was telling Ebony magazine how much better she felt: more energy, and none of the hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes common to people her age. She died on January 30, 2006.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
I feel blessed that I was introduced to this lifestyle more than 12 years ago by Dexter. I prefer to eat mostly raw or 'living' foods. The benefits for me are increased energy, a slowing of the aging process, and I have none of the diseases like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes that many people my age seem to get.
Coretta Scott King, in a 2003 interview with Ebony magazine
Source: All-Creatures.org
Why it still matters
It put one of the most recognized faces of the civil rights movement behind the idea that compassion doesn't stop at the dinner table, years before that link was a common talking point in vegan advocacy.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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