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King has suffered a stroke, friends say

ATLANTA - Coretta Scott King was hospitalized in fair condition Wednesday after what two family friends described as a stroke.

The 78-year-old widow of Martin Luther King Jr. was conscious and her vital signs were stable, but she likely will remain in the hospital for at least another day, Piedmont Hospital spokeswoman Diana Lewis said.

The King family declined to publicly discuss her condition, but issued a statement thanking supporters. "Please continue to keep her and us in your thoughts and prayers as she moves toward a speedy and complete recovery," Martin Luther King III said in the statement.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery and poet Maya Angelou said Wednesday that King had suffered a stroke, and Lowery said she was having difficulty speaking.

Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Martin Luther King Jr. helped found in 1957, said he was initially told by someone in King's office that she did not have a stroke, but he was immediately skeptical because the family is "very protective of her condition."

"She did have a stroke, take my word for it," Lowery said, though he later stressed that he had not confirmed her condition with the King family and is not speaking on their behalf.

Angelou, a personal friend of King's, said she had spoken by phone with King a few weeks ago about her health problems and planned to go to Atlanta to see her.

"She's my sister friend and I pray for her and her children," Angelou said in New York. "Everybody, please give a good thought, a positive thought for Coretta."

[Last modified August 18, 2005, 01:06:07]