Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
A stone of hope hewn from a mountain of despair, an image from the “I Have a Dream” speech
The story
Before you is the memorial to Martin Luther King Jr., a preacher and leader of Black Americans’ struggle for equal rights. You enter between two halves of a granite rock. This is the Mountain of Despair. Ahead stands a piece split off from it, the Stone of Hope. From it emerges a figure of King about thirty feet tall. The image comes from his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech: “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” The words “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope” are carved on the side of the stone. The statue is the work of the Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin. Beyond the stone, across the Tidal Basin, you can see the Jefferson Memorial. Along a curved wall about 450 feet long are fourteen quotations from King’s speeches, sermons and writings. They are not in order of date. The memorial’s address is 1964 Independence Avenue. The number was chosen on purpose: in 1964 the United States passed the Civil Rights Act. The memorial opened in 2011. It is the first memorial near the National Mall to honor an African American. Cherry trees are planted around it. They are meant to bloom each spring around the fourth of April, the anniversary of King’s death in 1968.
Visiting
Open 24 hours, free. Rangers are on duty from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The memorial is on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.
Sources
- National Park Service — Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial: History & Culture
- Wikipedia (EN) — Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
- National Park Service — National Mall and Memorial Parks: Operating Hours
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