10. King Wanted to Marry a White German Named Betty
In the 1940s, while attending Crozer Theological Seminary, King fell in love with a white woman, a scandalous affair at the time. As a Crozer student, King earned a reputation as a ladies’ man, a characteristic he would retain throughout his life. One particular romance involved Betty, the daughter of the seminary’s German cook. While King was smitten and saw Betty as wife material, an interracial relationship and the accompanying scandal would never be accepted in a Southern minister, and his father’s high aspirations forced King to end the relationship, graduating Crozer broken hearted. King, Sr. urged his son to marry opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs, whose father founded the Atlanta Civic League and the Atlanta Negro Voters League, but the son ultimately wed conservatory student Coretta Scott.
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