Putting MLK On The Nation’s Front Lawn

At a ceremony with Harry E. Johnson, Sr., President of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., Christine King Farris, sister to Martin Luther King Jr.; EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and members of the Black and Hispanic Caucuses, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed a permit allowing construction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall.

Now that Secretary Salazar has signed a construction permit, the non-profit Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. can proceed with construction of the memorial. The new memorial will be situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial in August, 1963.

Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006, and the memorial is expected to be completed in 2011.

The design of the four-acre memorial includes the use of water, stone and trees to symbolize Dr. King’s call to America for justice, opportunity and hope for all people.

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