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ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- On what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 77th birthday, his legacy is under attack and its greatest defender is unable to speak.

King's widow, Coretta Scott King, is recovering from a stroke that partially paralyzed her, and on Saturday made her first public appearance since last year's King holiday observance, smiling from a wheelchair at the Salute to Greatness Dinner in Atlanta, Georgia.

The couple's four children are divided over whether to sell the family-run center that promotes King's teachings.

And the spotlight is again hitting King's more human side in a new book that alleges extramarital affairs and a nasty split with a civil rights colleague, the Rev. Jesse Jackson -- a story that threatened to overshadow King's humanitarian contributions on the 20th anniversary of the King National Holiday.

Despite the distractions, those who stood by King's side in the civil rights movement say the memory of the self-named "Drum Major for Justice" is untouchable.

"Dr. King's legacy is as sound as a rock," said Tyrone Brooks, a Georgia state representative from Atlanta who worked alongside King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the SCLC, which King co-founded in 1957.

Rumors of womanizing by King and feuds with Jackson and others have long been popular topics in media and books such as "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down," the memoir written decades ago by King's former right-hand man, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy.

Historian Taylor Branch's book "At Canaan's Edge," released last week, is the latest. In the book, the third in Branch's series detailing King's life and the civil rights movement, the author writes of a longstanding affair King allegedly revealed to Coretta Scott King the year before his 1968 assassination.

Branch, who has not been available for interviews, also writes of heated arguments King had with some of his closest colleagues, including Jackson, whom he accused of trying to use the civil rights movement to promote himself. Jackson did not return calls seeking comment.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, a lifelong civil rights activist interviewed by Branch for the book, said King's stature will always make him a target.

More of Family feud, new book pull at King's legacy @ CNN