Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

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This article is about a planned memorial. It likely contains information of a speculative nature, and information will likely change as the structure nears completion.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial (proposed)
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)

Location:	Washington, D.C., USA
Coordinates:	38°53′10″N, 77°2′42″W
Established:	pending
Governing body:	U.S. Dept. of Interior

The Martin Luther King Jr., National Memorial is a planned memorial, spearheaded by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, to be constructed in Washington, D.C. as a permanent testament to American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The memorial will have three underlying themes: justice, democracy and hope — highlighted by the use of water, stone and trees respectively throughout the memorial.

King will be the first African American honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the third non-president to be commemorated in such a way. The King Memorial will be administered by the National Park Service.

The ceremonial groundbreaking for the memorial occurred on November 13, 2006 in West Potomac Park.

1 Location and structure
2 History
3 Controversy
4 External links

[edit] Location and structure

Proposed MLK, Jr. Memorial site.

The King Memorial will be located on a four-acre site on the National Mall that borders the Tidal Basin. It will be adjacent to the Roosevelt Memorial and will create a visual "line of leadership" from the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington, to the Jefferson Memorial.

Audio samples:

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Harry E. Johnson describes the architectural design of the memorial.
Problems playing the files? See media help.

The centerpiece of the design features a figure of King emerging from a rough-hewn boulder in a landscape of large stones, flowing water and cherry trees. The groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006 with a goal of dedicating the Memorial in 2008.

The Stone of Hope

The memorial will contain 24 niches (semicircular nave-like shapes) along the upper walkway to commemorate the contribution of the many individuals that gave their lives in different ways to the civil rights movement – from Medgar Evers to the four children murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham.

A number of the niches will be left open and incomplete, allowing additional niches to be dedicated as new events unfold in the dynamic civil rights movement.

[edit] History

MLK Memorial ad which appeared in major U.S. newspapers.

1968: Immediately after King's death, officials of King's fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, proposed erecting a permanent memorial to King in Washington D.C. Their efforts gathered strength in 1986, after his birthday became a national holiday.
1996: United States Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to permit Alpha Phi Alpha to establish a memorial on Department of Interior lands in the District of Columbia, giving the fraternity until November 2003 to raise $100 million and break ground.
1998: Congress authorized Alpha Phi Alpha to establish a foundation to manage the memorial's fundraising and design, and approved the building of the memorial on the National Mall.
1999: The National Capital Planning Commission and The Commission of Fine Arts approved the site location for the memorial.
2000: The design, by a San Francisco-based architecture firm, was selected out of 900 candidates, from 52 countries. On December 5, a marble and bronze plaque was laid to dedicate the site where the memorial will be built. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Plaque
2001: A full-time fundraising team begin the fundraising and promotional campaign for the memorial.
2003: The $100 million fundraising deadline was extended by a congressional action.
2005: Congress authorized the United States Treasury to match 10 million dollars in private contributions.
2006: The Walt Disney Company donation of $2.5 million raised the foundation's total to $47 million and triggered the $10 million matching grant from Congress. Donations of $1 million from PepsiCo, State Farm Insurance, FedEx and General Electric increased the fundraising total to $61 million of the needed $100 million.

The Washington D. C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. is a project of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the U.S. Congress to collect funds and construct a Memorial to Dr. King. Contributions are tax-deductible to the maximum extent allowed by law. Harry Johnson is the current President of the foundation.

[edit] Controversy

In 2001, the foundation's efforts to build the memorial were stalled because the civil rights leader's family wanted the foundation to pay licensing fees to use his name and likeness in marketing campaigns. The memorial foundation, beset by delays and a languid pace of donations has stated, "the last thing it needs is to pay an onerous fee to the King family. Joseph Lowery, past president of the King-founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference stated in the The Washington Post, "If nobody's going to make money off of it, why should anyone get a fee?" [1] The family pledged that any money derived would go back to the King Center's charitable efforts.