Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

West Potomac Park,  

1964 Independence Avenue, SW

Sculptor:  Lei Yixin

Visual Description

Two large granite blocks, evoking the mountain of despair, are split. In front of them is a larger central granite piece, dubbed The Mountain of Hope. Out of this central piece emerges the carved relief  figure, 30 feet high. of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, his arms crossed in front of him, holding a scroll  that is said by some to be his “I have a dream speech” at the 1963 March on Washington. 

Selected quotations by Dr King are inscribed on the walls  around the memorial:

• We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." (March 31, 1968, National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.)

• "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." (1963, Strength to Love, Montgomery, Alabama)

• "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." (December 10, 1964, Oslo, Norway)

• "Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." (April 18, 1959, Washington, D.C.)

• "I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world." (February 25, 1967, Los Angeles, California)

• "If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." (December 24, 1967, Atlanta, Georgia)

• "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Alabama)

• "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits." (December 10, 1964, Oslo, Norway)

• "It is not enough to say 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace." (December 24, 1967, Atlanta, Georgia)

• "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." (February 25, 1967, Los Angeles, California)

• "Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies." (April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, Manhattan, New York)

• We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." (December 5, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama)

• "We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience." (April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Alabama)

• "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." (April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Alabama)

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Note: a previous inscription paraphrasing Dr. King read “"I Was a Drum Major for Justice, Peace, and Righteousness" was removed at the order of the Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, after critics pointed out that paraphrase misrepresented King’s meaning and made him sound much more egotistical than he really was.

Interpretive Notes

The monument seeks to bring to life a famous line by Dr King: “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”   The split mountain pieces in the rear evoke the mountain of despair and the open front assemblage seems to be the ‘stone of hope.’

The piece remains controversial in many quarters, in part because a non-African American artist was commissioned to create it, and also because many do not regard the likeness as particularly accurate. Some find the depiction unduly stern and lacking in the compassion and empathy for which Dr. King was renowned.  It is also at times noted that the work seems to recall the worst of socialist realist iconography, reducing King to a caricature rather than capturing the remarkable depth and complexity of the man.

Given King’s magisterial oratory, and the placement of the memorial near the Lincoln Memorial,his the locale of this transformative “I have a dream speech,” many had expected to see King in the act of speaking, rather than looking impassive with arms crossed. Others, mindful of King’s final “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech on the eve of his assassination, had hoped for his eyes to be looking towards a distant horizon, rather than the rather pensive or hooded look in his face.

According to some commentators, the placement of Dr King, facing into the Tidal Basin, ensures that each April the Cherry Blossoms around the Basin will bloom at the anniversary of his assassination. 

Prompts for closer looking:

• What emotions do you have looking at this rendition of King? Does it evoke the responses you feel when, for example, listening to recordings of King’s stirring speeches? 

• To your mind, does the sculpture do justice to Dr King’s memory?

• How effective do you find the juxtaposition of the rear “mountains of despair: with the stone of hope out of which Dr King’s figure emerges? Is this a reading, so far as you can tell, that many viewers reach when looking at the work?

• As a memorial, this edifice seeks to honor Dr. King in light of his death. In Dr. King’s case this death was violent and horrific, a cataclysm from which some feel the nation has never recovered. Do you perceive any hints in the work of the history of violence and untimely loss?

• In light of the previous question, compare this rendition to the nearby Lincoln Memorial, which also represents a beloved martyred leader? Which work of art in your judgement better conveys a sense of profound national sorrow and the rich inner emotional life of one of the nation's greatest leaders?

• Observe how the space around the memorial is used? What kinds of conversations do people have in its presence? Do people share, for example, stories of Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement? Is the prevailing mood sorrowful, meditative, playful, joyous?

Learning Resources

National Park Service overview: https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/building-the-memorial.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Memorial