MLK Memorial Opens on Anniversary of Historic March

On August 28, 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. stood before a crowd of 250,000 people and said, “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

Almost a half-century later, these words from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech have become reality. The result is a $120 million granite sculpture and wall located on the National Mall devoted to King.

First memorial to an African-American

	Martin Luther King Jr. is the first African-American to have a memorial on the National Mall.

Fourteen years in the making, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial opens along the Tidal Basin next week, adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson memorials.

King’s monument conveys the four central tenets of his universal message: democracy, justice, hope and love. Two large pieces of granite make up the “Mountain of Despair,” from which comes the centerpiece: the “Stone of Hope.”

The sculpture of King is carved out of this 30-foot stone and looks toward Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. A 450-foot crescent-shaped granite wall stands along the perimeters, inscribed with King's sermons and public remarks.

The dedication begins with a VIP-filled ceremony on Aug. 28, the 48th anniversary of King's March on Washington and his "I Have a Dream" speech.

The March on Washington Anniversary

	The march began at the Washington Monument and ended at the Lincoln Memorial with a program of music and speakers.

In August 1963, thousands traveled to the nation’s capital by foot, bus, car and train on a day now viewed as a turning point of the Civil Rights Movement. It was the largest demonstration in Washington to that point and one of the first with wide television coverage.

The March on Washington was organized to bring attention to high levels of black unemployment, poor job mobility, systematic disenfranchisement of many African-Americans and continued racial segregation in the South.

By this time, King had been traveling the country for eight years, fighting for social justice.

The march led to two pieces of landmark legislation in the mid-1960s: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public places and employment and provided for integration; and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited discriminatory voting practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests that Southern states adopted after the Civil War.

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech became one of the most influential pieces of rhetoric in American history.

King Memorial had to overcome many obstacles

	The idea for a monument came from five members of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

The MLK Memorial endured many obstacles: fundraising challenges, artistic controversy and bureaucratic roadblocks. The idea for the monument came from five fraternity brothers in early 1984, a few months after President Ronald Reagan signed the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday bill.

These men belonged to the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest black fraternity in the country of which King was also a member. The planners lobbied Congress, and in 1996, a joint resolution authorized the fraternity to establish it. Ground was broken in 2006.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which must agree on the design of every inch of any memorial on the National Mall, approved the monument’s design, but the memorial was met with debate and controversy.

In 2008, the commission secretary criticized the sculpture as too “confrontational” and reminiscent of the social realism style. He compared it to statues that have been torn down in totalitarian states.

A year earlier, critics also complained that a Chinese man, Lei Yixin, was selected as the sculptor and that he was making it in China. Critics denounced it as “outsourcing” and said an African-American artist -- or at least an American -- would have been more appropriate. 

So far, organizers have raised $114 million through private and public donations and are short $6 million. To reach its financial goal, the organizers have employed a number of grassroots strategies, such as raising donations at school-based events.

Celebrities flock to Washington for opening dedication

	Celebrities such as Jamie Foxx, George Lucas, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and poet Maya Angelou will have roles in the ceremonies.

Celebrities, civil rights leaders and members of the King family are coming to Washington, D.C., to participate in the free public dedication Aug. 28.

President Barack Obama will speak, and Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder will perform. Celebrity co-chairs of the memorial include filmmaker George Lucas, poet Maya Angelou and actor Jamie Foxx. Civil rights leaders and other high-profile figures will have roles in the ceremonies as well, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

In the days leading up to the dedication, festivities will include concerts, an interfaith prayer service, receptions and dinners, film showings, marches, exhibits and an MLK street dedication.