Martin Luther King Jr. paid for Julia Roberts' birth.
Julia Roberts, the actress best known for her roles in Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich, and Steel Magnolias, was born in Smyrna, Georgia, in 1967. But when it came time for her parents, Betty and Walter Roberts, to take home their new bundle of joy, there was one hiccup: They couldn’t afford the hospital bill. That’s when Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King — friends of the Roberts’ — stepped in to help, covering the cost of the future actress’s birth.
The arts drew the King and Roberts families together. Before marrying her activist husband, Coretta Scott King had earned a bachelor’s in music education from the New England Conservatory, one of the country’s most selective music schools. By the 1960s, married actors Betty and Walter Roberts had launched the Actors and Writers Workshop, a theater school in Atlanta near the Kings’ home. With four young children and a passion for the arts, Coretta had been searching for a youth theater program, but struggled to find one that would accept Black students. She reached out to Betty to inquire about the Robertses’ school, which stood out as the only integrated children’s acting program in the area.
While the Actors and Writers Workshop was successful and molded several actors who pursued the craft into adulthood, it wasn’t free from monetary issues. By the time Julia (the youngest of three children) was born, the Roberts family was struggling financially. However, the Kings and Robertses had developed a friendship that helped the family through a rough patch; Martin and Coretta graciously covered the expense, forever linking the two families.
Today, children’s literature is more reflective of its readers than ever before — a 2022 study by the University of Wisconsin found that 40% of books published that year were written, illustrated, or compiled by people of color. However, creators from diverse communities haven’t always had their work published or recognized, which is one reason why the Coretta Scott King Book Awards were created. In 1969, two school librarians — Mabel McKissick from Connecticut and Glyndon Greer of New Jersey — met at the American Library Association Conference in Atlantic City. After attending a banquet for the Caldecott and Newbery book awards, the librarians discussed a lack of acknowledgment for Black writers, and used their remaining time at the conference to develop the Coretta Scott King Awards. The designation, named for the civil rights activist and her work toward peace and equality, continues to recognize Black writers and illustrators and literature that represents African American culture and human rights.
