Coretta King hospitalized, in fair condition

ATLANTA -- Civil rights matriarch Coretta Scott King was reported to be in fair condition yesterday after she was hospitalized for an unspecified condition, a hospital official said.

King, 78, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., went to an emergency room early yesterday and was resting later in the day, said a Piedmont Hospital spokeswoman, Diana Lewis.

Lewis would not elaborate on the reason for the hospitalization, but said King would spend the night at the hospital for observation.

Lewis said the King family is expected to release a statement today. Attempts to reach relatives yesterday were unsuccessful. King has canceled recent appearances, raising concerns about her health.

At a ceremony paying tribute to the King family at the Georgia State Capitol on June 30, a son, Martin Luther King III, said his mother was ''doing well" and was abiding by her doctor's orders to limit her activities. He declined to give additional details.

''I had a feeling, based on her cancellation of several events, that she wasn't doing well," state Representative Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said yesterday. ''I have been praying for Mrs. King every day, and I urge Atlanta, Georgia, the nation, and the world to pray for her."

The Alabama-born Coretta Scott was studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music when a friend introduced her to King, a young Baptist minister working toward a doctorate at Boston University. They married in 1953.

They had four children, and she was a supportive lieutenant to her husband during the most tumultuous days of the civil rights movement. After his assassination in Memphis in 1968, she continued his work, founding the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change the following year.