Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington DC

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington DC

The Martin Luther King Memorial in West Potomac Park honors the civil rights leader and Nobel laureate.

The Martin Luther King Memorial in West Potomac Park honors the civil rights leader and Nobel laureate. Spread over 4 acres overlooking the Tidal Basin, it is located at 1964 Independence Avenue SW in which the '1964' is a reference to the 1964 Civil Rights Act in which King Jr played a pivotal role. Visitors enter between 2 slabs of granite that represent the 'Mountain of Despair' which symbolizes King's struggle. The memorial's centerpiece is the Stone of Hope, a 30 feet high granite statue of King carved by sculptor Lei Yixin. Both installations are based on the line 'With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope' from his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. A 450 feet long inscription wall has excerpts from many of King's sermons and speeches, dating from the time of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama to his final sermon in 1968 at the National Cathedral.