Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington D.C.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. is part of the cluster of memorials around the Tidal Basin, the Jefferson Memorial being the most famous. The MLK memorial is the most recent, dedicated in 2011. The plan to dedicate it on August 28, the anniversary of King's I Have a Dream speech, was postponed because of Hurricane Irene. The dedication moved to October 16, 2011, the anniversary of the Million Man March.

The entrance to the memorial from the National Mall is a bit cryptic--two large stones split in two. The view of the Tidal Basin in between does not give a clue to the honoree of the memorial (though the signs give it away).

Entrance to the memorial

The side of the rock

View from the other side

A few paces in is another stone block which has a larger-than-life figure of King looking out over the Tidal Basin.

The missing block!

Looking out over the waters

The sculpture is called "Stone of Hope" and was carved by Lei Yixin. The name is a reference to part of the I Have a Dream speech where King says, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

See how it was taken out

The wall behind the statue has many famous quotes from King, who spent his life crusading for civil rights and fighting to end poverty.

1963 quote on justice

1961 quote on equality

The flowers were blooming nicely.

Flowers

King's statue seems to look straight across the Tidal Basin at another memorial.

Looking out at...

...the Jefferson Memorial

From here, we went to visit the FDR Memorial, which will show up on the blog soon!