Martin Luther King Memorial on National Mall Approved

By Butler T. Gray, USIA Staff Writer

During the summer of 1998 the US Senate and House of Representatives unanimously approved resolutions that would allow Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest and largest predominantly black Greek-letter fraternity to build a memorial honoring its most illustrious brother -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- in the heart of Washington, DC's monuments to the most renowned figures in American history.

The King memorial would allow the civil-rights leader to join a select group of illustrious American leaders -- Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt -- who are honored on the Mall.

President Clinton signed the legislation at the end of June just a few days after it was passed by the House of Representatives on June 22 and by the Senate on June 25. Fundraising is now well underway across the United States.

Although the memorial has yet to be designed and its exact site has not been chosen, both the Senate and House unanimously approved resolutions stating that it be placed in the prestigious and historic Area I -- a stretch of land between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building on the Mall or between Capitol Hill and RFK Stadium, where it would take its place among memorials dedicated to the greatest Presidents of the United States and to US war veterans.

The exact placement of the memorial will be decided jointly by the Interior Department, the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. plans to open up competition for the design of the memorial in the fall of 1998 and has planned intense fund raising to pay for the project.

The memorial "will stand as a tribute to what Martin Luther King Jr. represented, which, in my judgment, was a commitment to achieving change through nonviolence," said Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (Democrat-Maryland) who sponsored the legislation with Senator John Warner (Republican-Virginia).

"A memorial to Dr. King erected in the nation's capital will provide continuing inspiration to all who visit it," Sarbanes said. "We hope young people who visit the monument will come to understand that it recognizes not only the enormous contribution of this great civil rights leader, but also two very basic principles for the healthy functioning of our society which Dr. King taught and practiced." In a series of Senate floor remarks over the past few years, Sarbanes described these two principles as "equal treatment and enfranchisement for all Americans through nonviolent means." Sarbanes said that Dr. King became "an American hero" in 1955, when he led the boycott against city buses in Montgomery, Alabama that began after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat near the front of one of those buses to a white person.

"In a city of monuments and symbols, where words and deeds have inspired and moved our nation forward, we are long overdue in celebrating Dr. King and his hope for America," said Rep. Constance A. Morella (Republican-Maryland) who sponsored the measure in the House along with Rep. Julian Dixon (Democrat-California).

"No American in our history has embodied more genuinely the spirit of brotherhood and cooperation so desperately needed in facing the social and economic problems that plague our nation today," Morella said. "Dr. King challenged us to envision a world in which social justice and peace will prevail among all people. This memorial will provide a symbol of that message and will help pass that message from generation to generation."

Sarbanes and Warner were the leading Senate sponsors of legislation passed two years ago -- in 1996 -- authorizing the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to establish a permanent memorial to honor Dr. King on federal land in the District of Columbia and to be built entirely with private contributions at no cost to the Federal Government.

Attempts to get the monument to King built on the Mall may draw some opposition, however, because legislation was introduced recently in Congress that would ban additional memorials there.

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