Civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr gets his own memorial on the National Mall for the anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” speech Sunday, the only monument not dedicated to a president or war.
Over 300,000 people — President Barack Obama among them — are expected for a dedication ceremony on the National Mall, the huge grassy esplanade south of the White House surrounded by monuments dedicated to the country’s heroes.
It will take place 48 years to the day after the civil rights leader gave his famous speech calling for racial equality and an end to discrimination. He was assassinated nearly five years later, on April 4, 1968.
The Martin Luther King Memorial is “the first on the National Mall to celebrate a man of color, hope and peace,” said Harry Johnson, president of the foundation that undertook the project, now 15 years in the running.
Opening to the public on Monday, it is the mall’s first monument not dedicated to a president or war.
Obama is due to deliver a speech for Sunday’s event, before attendees like the King family, former defense secretary Colin Powell and other politicians, filmmaker George Lucas and singers Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.
Dedicated to the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and his message of democracy, hope, justice and love, the memorial stretches across a vast open space of four acres (1.5 hectares) dotted with cherry trees donated by Japan.
Nearby is the Lincoln Memorial where the pastor gave his most famous speech on August 28, 1963.
Located halfway between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, and near the Roosevelt Memorial, it has a “powerful” location that “creates a visual line of leadership,” Johnson said.
Journalists tour the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial three hours before the general public was given access to the newest memorial on the National Mall August 22, 2011 in Washington, DC.
The space has the shape of an arch bordering the Tidal Basin reservoir between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel in Washington. Embellished by several fountains, it closes with a 450-foot (140-meter) Inscription Wall featuring King’s most notable words.
A massive, 28-foot (nearly nine-meter) “Stone of Hope” statue in the likeness of King, carved out of white granite, shows him gazing sternly out onto the horizon, arms folded.
“When you look at the facial expression, you can see the hope,” said Lei Yixin, the Chinese artist who carved it.
Visitors enter through the Mountain of Despair, a huge boulder symbolizing African Americans’ struggle for peace and equality.
This week will be full of festivities honoring civil rights activists, including women, a concert, an exhibition and a religious ceremony.
The $120 million memorial has not yet been completely financed, with $5 million still needing to be raised, a reminder of how the monument’s inauguration was delayed multiple times over economic or security concerns.
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