Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
The Stone of Hope at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
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 Location in Central Washington, D.C.
Location in Central Washington, D.C.
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| Coordinates | 38°53′10″N 77°2′39″W / 38.88611°N 77.04417°WCoordinates: 38°53′10″N 77°2′39″W / 38.88611°N 77.04417°W |
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| Location | Washington, D.C.: 1964 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C. |
| Designer | Lei Yixin |
| Material | White granite |
| Height | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Completion date | 2011 |
| Opening date | October 16, 2011 |
| Dedicated to | Martin Luther King Jr. |
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The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is located in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., next to the National Mall. The Memorial covers four acres and includes the Stone of Hope, a granite statue of Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King carved by sculptor Lei Yixin. The memorial opened to the public on August 22, 2011, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising, and construction.
The national memorial is America's 395th unit in the National Park Service. The monumental memorial is located at the northwest corner of the Tidal Basin near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, on a sightline linking the Lincoln Memorial to the northwest and the Jefferson Memorial to the southeast. The official address of the monument, 1964 Independence Avenue, S.W., commemorates the year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law.
A ceremony dedicating the Memorial was scheduled for Sunday, August 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 but was postponed until October 16 (the 16th anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March on the National Mall) due to Hurricane Irene.
Although this is not the first memorial to an African American in Washington, D.C., King is the first African American honored with a memorial on or near the National Mall and only the fourth non-President to be memorialized in such a way. The King Memorial is administered by the National Park Service (NPS).
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