Future Site for Memorial to King Marked with Dedication Ceremony

By Butler T. Gray, Washington File Staff Writer

(On the National Mall between Lincoln, Jefferson memorials)

The site of the future memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the National Mall was officially dedicated with a ceremony December 4 to unveil a bronze memorial marker as well as to commemorate the memorial which will be constructed on a four-acre site surrounding the Tidal Basin.

It will be situated on a line-of-sight between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and just north of the memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Among those who participated in the ceremony were Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, Representative Connie Morella (Republican-Maryland), Senator John Warner (Republican-Virginia), Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (Democrat-Maryland), Robert G. Stanton, Director, National Park Service, and Adrian L. Wallace, President of the National Memorial Project Foundation and General President of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

"This dedication ceremony brings us one step closer to memorializing the ideals and values that Dr. King and his movement represented," said Wallace.

Immediately after Dr. King's death in 1968, officials of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the nation's oldest and largest predominantly black Greek-letter fraternity, of which King was a member, proposed erecting a permanent memorial to him in Washington. Their efforts gathered strength in 1986, after his birthday became a national holiday and led to the creation of the memorial foundation.

During the summer of 1998 the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives unanimously approved resolutions that would allow Alpha Phi Alpha to build a memorial honoring its most illustrious brother -- Dr. King -- in the heart of Washington, D.C.'s monuments, joining a select group of the greatest American leaders -- Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt -- honored on the National Mall.

Senator Sarbanes and Senator Warner were the leading U.S. Senate sponsors of the legislation that allowed the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to build the King memorial. Representative Morella, along with Representative Julian Dixon (Democrat-California), sponsored the measure in the House of Representatives.

Many of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity members were in attendance to see the unveiling as well as to celebrate the fraternity's 94th anniversary.

"This morning, we celebrate the life, the leadership, the faith, and the courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He richly deserves this honor, for Dr. King dedicated his life to working for equality and justice for all," said Rep. Morella.

"Let us recognize that this new memorial in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will provide a reminder of our nation's history and of Dr. King's unrelenting struggle to eliminate injustice and prejudice. He challenged us to envision a world where non-violence and social justice prevailed and this memorial will help to pass the fundamental vision from generation to generation," Morella said. "This memorial will serve as an inspiration and as a reminder of King's struggle for equality."

"This memorial will serve as the signpost along the road to equality and racial harmony for those who were not alive when Dr. King lived," said Senator Sarbanes. "It will also serve as a reminder that the goals toward which he strove must be attained in order for America to remain strong and true to its governing principles."

Secretary of Transportation Slater said "this is a memorial that is in representation of one of the greatest Americans to ever live. It is a memorial well-designed. It is a memorial that speaks to the work of one that we honor today. When completed, it will symbolize the ability of the human spirit to persevere, the ability to bring out the best of all people while facing the worst of some."

On September 13, 2000, the architectural firm ROMA Design Group of San Francisco, California was selected from more than 900 entries to design the memorial.

King will be the first African-American honored with his own memorial on the National Mall and the second non-President to be commemorated in such a way: A monument honoring George Mason, the American patriot who opposed slavery during George Washington's presidency, was approved by the commission earlier this year.

With both a site and design selected, the Washington, DC, Martin Luther King Memorial Project Foundation continues to work with various commissions to ensure that the design meets building specifications. The foundation has until November 12, 2003, to complete a design, raise the money for the memorial and break ground.

Dr. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech before a crowd of 200,000 people on August 28, 1963 surrounding the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That speech helped spur passage of a series of landmark civil-rights laws and is considered one of the greatest examples of American oratory of all time.

He was killed by a sniper's bullet four and a half years later -- on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.