At last…King Memorial to be dedicated on Aug. 28

22nd August 2011   ·   0 Comments

On Sunday, August 28, exactly 48 years after the historic 1963 March on Washington, the nation and world will pause to witness the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Washington Mall.

The Memorial, the first on the National Mall to honor a man of peace, hope, and color, will be dedicated on August 28 in a West Potomac Park ceremony on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Members of the King family, civil rights leaders including Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will play a role in several events in the nation’s capital to celebrate the Memorial’s dedication August 24 through 28. Former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, General Colin Powell, Tom Brokaw, Maya Angelou, Alpha Phi Alpha General President Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., Tommy Hilfiger, General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, leaders of the faith-based community and more will participate in Dedication Week events. President Barack Obama will deliver remarks during the August 28 Dedication Ceremony.

“The Dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial has been long-awaited, and people from around the world are coming to experience this tremendous, historic moment. We are excited to welcome them all,” said Harry E. Johnson, Sr., president and CEO of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.

The Dedication Ceremony is the culmination of more three decades of efforts by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and others to commemorate King’s life. It was first proposed after King’s assassination and picked up momentum after the passage of the National MLK Holiday in 1986. Those plans began to really take shape in 1996 when Congress gave the Alphas the “green light” to begin raising funds for a memorial on the National Mall.

The centerpiece for the memorial will be based on a line from King’s “I Have A Dream” speech: “Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” A 30-foot high statue of King named the “Stone of Hope” will stand past two other pieces of granite that symbolize the “mountain of despair.” Visitors will literally “pass through” the Mountain of Despair on the way to the Stone of Hope, symbolically “moving through the struggle as Dr. King did during his life.”

Additionally, a 450-foot inscription wall will include excerpts from many of King’s sermons and speeches. On this crescent-shaped granite wall, 14 of King’s quotes will be inscribed, the earliest from the time of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, and the latest from his final sermon, delivered in 1968 at Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral, just four days before his assassination.

Although this will not be the first memorial to an African American in Washington, D.C., King will be the first African American honored with a memorial on or near the National Mall area and only the fourth non-President to be memorialized in such a way. The King Memorial will be administered by the National Park Service (NPS).

Within the memorial, quotes from Dr. King’s sermons and speeches are inscribed at a large scale on the smooth surfaces of the inscription wall. These passages will be reinforced through the referential use of water, stone, landscaping and light as metaphorical elements that heighten an awareness of his message.

Washington, DC residents and anyone else who wants to will have a chance to visit the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington before it is officially dedicated.

Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said last Monday that officials had an overwhelming demand for tickets for a preview day for city residents. As a result, residents won’t be the only ones who get to sneak a peek at the memorial on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Gray said no tickets will be needed and that anyone who comes to the memorial site that day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. will be allowed to see it.

The official dedication of the memorial for the late civil rights leader is Sunday, Aug. 28, with President Barack Obama scheduled to speak. Others expected to attend include Stevie Wonder, Maya Angelou and Aretha Franklin, who will sing “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” one of the songs Dr. King often asked her to sing during church services and civil rights gatherings.

“I just think that it is a nod to how far we have come, and what a tremendous spot for him to be him, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial on the mall. We’ve come a long way,” said Franklin, who headlined an all-star concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 2007 to raise funds for the King Memorial. “I think it’s tremendous.”

For more information about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Dedication and Dedication Week events, visit www.Dedicate­the­Dream.org.

This article was originally published in the August 22, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper