There are few people who can say they made a dramatic and historically significant change in the world, there are even fewer that can say they did it as a pair. If ever a couple could say that their presence in this world made a difference it was Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. It’s hard to live a day when the influence of this historic couple cannot be felt, not only in the United States, but abroad. Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of the Civil Rights Movement which swept the nation in the 1950s and 1960s could not have done so were it not for the unfailing dedication and commitment of his wife Coretta Scott King.

The couple met in 1952, Martin Luther King was pursuing his PhD. in Theology at the University of Boston while Coretta was attending the New England Conservatory of Music. A friend gave Martin Luther King Jr Coretta’s phone number. It was that first phone call that sealed the rest of history. After only about an hour Martin had made up his mind “So you can do something else besides sing? You’ve got a good mind also. You have everything I ever wanted in a woman. We ought to get married someday.” And on June 18, 1953 the two were married by Martin’s father the Reverend King Sr. on the lawn of Coretta’s parents’ home in Marion, Alabama.

While many didn’t recognize the ferocity with which Coretta was involved in politics and activism until after MLK’s death the two were instrumental in the movement. She played critical roles in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, she journeyed to Ghana to mark that nation’s independence in 1957, traveled to India on a pilgrimage in 1959 and worked to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

From the platform of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Martin Luther King was able play a pivotal role in the end of legal segregation and the enfranchisement of minorities with the Voting Rights act of 1965. He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. MLK himself declared “If I have done anything in this struggle, it is because I have had behind me and at my side a devoted, understanding, dedicated, patient companion in the person of my wife.”

The two worked together and built a family as well as helped shape a nation during a critical point in its history. For more on these two triumphant figures of the Civil Rights Movement and American history: Biography.com and Stanford.edu