The groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial honoring slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took place in Washington, D.C., in late 2006. This project will be the first national memorial for an African-American and non-president on the National Mall, and it will be built in the same city in which King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington Aug. 28, 1963.
“An assassin’s bullet could not shatter the dream,” President George W. Bush said in his speech about King’s legacy. “It continues to inspire millions around the world.”
The memorial entrance will feature a sculpture of towering split rocks called “The Mountain of Despair.” It is intended to signify the racially and socially divided America that inspired King’s nonviolent efforts toward social justice.
“It’s about time that he gets this type of recognition,” said LaTonya Pankey, a junior majoring in nursing. “This monument is celebrating his life and the civil rights movement.”
The National Capital Planning Commission approved the MLK project in 1999, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., of which King is remembered as a faithful member, helped get this project in motion.
Among those at the groundbreaking ceremony were poet and novelist Maya Angelou, television personality Oprah Winfrey, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and former President Bill Clinton.The memorial will be encompassed by the Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt memorials near the eastern part of the Potomac River. The site is expected to be completed by the spring of 2008. As of Jan. 14, donations had reached $76 million, with a needed $100 million to complete the project.
For more information log on to www. BuildTheDream.org or call the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial project Foundation: 888-484-3373.