Dorothy Cotton: Top aide to Martin Luther King Jr., has died

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https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/dorothy-cotton-top-aide-martin-luther-king-has-died/BisLIsQClaTaIQG67WnEvM/

Dorothy Cotton, one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, closest aides in an orbit dominated by men, has died.

The Dorothy Cotton Institute and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where Cotton served as national director of education from 1963 until King’s assassination in 1968, confirmed Cotton died June 10 in her home in Ithaca, N.Y.

She was 88.

“Ms. Cotton died peacefully at her residence, Kendal at Ithaca, with loved ones at her bedside,” read a statement on the DCI website. “She was a remarkably courageous leader, an inspiring educator, a great spirit, and our dear friend.”

Cotton is perhaps best known for her work with King and the SCLC, but she was much broader than that.

After leaving the SCLC in the early 1970s, Cotton moved into academia in New York and faded from the civil rights conversation, although she continued to be active in the movement.

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1. Thanks for your struggle Dorothy Cotton