MLK Jr. statue has new home at La. Civil Rights Museum

By Makenna Mincey
Contributing Writer

For 18 years, the Louisiana State Museum housed a life-sized statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hoping it would one day be housed in a civil rights museum. So, when the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum opened at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Oct. 8, 2023, the relocation of the statue in honor of King began to fall into place.

The Convention Center and the La. Civil Rights Museum unveiled the relocated statue on Jan. 10 as a new installation just in time for this year’s MLK Day, commemorating the civil rights icon’s long-standing relationship with New Orleans.

“This museum exhibit is a tribute to the many leaders from our state who played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement and were inspired by Dr. King, making the museum exhibit a fitting home for this wonderful statue,” said Michael J. Sawaya, the CEO for the Con-vention Center, in a statement.

The statement continued to say, “It is fitting to celebrate this important holiday weekend by further enhancing the experience of the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum – The Inaugural Experience, with a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

The exhibit also fulfills years of hard work, dedication and dreams of a future society based on justice and equality. The sculptor, the late Rev. Ivory Dyson, was an active participant in the fight for civil rights, using his artistry as an agent for change. Dyson passed in 2021, but through this installation, his legacy also lives on alongside King’s. His daughter, Lindory Parker, described her father as motivational and inspiring to those around him.

“You only fail when you fail to try,” she defined as his mantra.

MLK Jr.’s history with New Orleans and the state of Louisiana runs deep. The founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 at New Zion Baptist Church and meetings with other civil rights leaders at Dooky Chase restaurant are some of the pivotal moments the city played during the civil rights era. Even SCLC’s renowned Montgomery Bus Boycott was modeled after the bus boycotts in Baton Rouge. The state and New Orleans served as both a staging ground and hub for civil rights activity.

“We were a center for it you know? New Orleans was just very important,” said Susan Maclay, the interim director of the Louisiana Office of State Museums.

Maclay said that it is more vital now than ever to ensure that these stories are shared, and that this history continues to endure the test of time.

The statue is available for viewing during regular museum hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Tuesday through Sunday. Adult tickets are $7. For seniors, active military members and students, tickets are $6. Children under the age of 6 can enter free of charge.

“If you don’t understand the past, you’re due to repeat it so this is just too important to our future for people to not understand this period and what happened and where we were and how far we’ve come and how much further we have to go,” Maclay said.

This article originally published in the January 22, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.