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African-American History
National Mall Site Chosen for Memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by
Butler T. Gray
Washington File Staff Writer
 Washington
-- The National Capital Planning Commission unanimously approved late December 2 a site
for a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the historically hallowed ground of
the national Mall - where it will join monuments to the highly select and small number of
the most revered Presidents of the United States.
Symbolically, the memorial to Dr. King will be near the place where he made his "I
have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington
on August 28, 1963, four and a half years before his assassination. The memorial, which
was approved in a unanimous 10-to-0 vote by the planning commission, will be built on 4
acres adjacent to the Tidal Basin, halfway between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington
Monument, across the Tidal Basin from theJefferson Memorial and just north of the memorial
to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
King will be the first African-American honored with his own memorial in the Mall area 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.
The commission, which reviews every federal construction project in Washington, approved
the site after earlier rejecting it in favor of another location that was in turn rejected
by another federal panel, the Commission of Fine Arts. Those two, along with the National
Capital Memorial Commission are the three federal agencies required to grant approval for
the King memorial location.
The commission's approval stipulates that the proposed monument avoid the basin's walkway
and waters. They also placed a 20-foot limit on the height of the monument.
Immediately after King's death in 1968, officials of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., 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. Martin Luther King Jr. -- in the heart of Washington,
D.C.'s monuments to the most renowned figures in American history.
Although there are other hurdles, including raising what is expected to be tens of
millions of dollars, the leaders of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, said that their dream
would start to take form in eight months, when submissions for the design competition are
due.
Specific features of the King monument have yet to be decided, pending an international
competition for selection of the architectural design. The King foundation has until
November 12, 2003, to complete a design, finish a fund-raising campaign and break ground
on construction. The monument's design would have to be approved by the same three federal
agencies that approved the location. After a design is chosen, organizers will have as
long as seven years to build the memorial, although it could be completed before then.
Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (Democrat-Maryland), who along with Senator John Warner
(Republican-Virginia) were the leading U.S. Senate sponsors of the legislation that
allowed the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to build the King memorial.
"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,"
Sarbanes said. "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," Sarbanes said.
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.
Representative Constance A. Morella (Republican-Maryland) who sponsored the measure in the
U.S. House of Representatives along with Representative Julian Dixon (Democrat-California)
said "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."
"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," Morella said.
The memorial will be paid for with private donations. The deadline to register for the
design competition is April 1, and entries must be submitted by May 1. The foundation
plans to announce the winner on June 15 and has until November 12, 2003, to complete the
design, raise the money and break ground.
King, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, would have been 71 years
old in January 2001.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State.)
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