Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial readies for its D.C. debut
30 ft granite likeness of MLK screengrab yourblackworld.com
A $120 million memorial devoted to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. – opens in Washington D.C. on Sunday, Aug. 28, the 48th anniversary of King's March on Washington and delivery of his "I Have a Dream" speech.
The 30-foot sculpture of King stands alongside the Tidal Basin, adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. It will be the first memorial to honor a non-President and a single African American, the Washington Post reported.
The site on the National Mall was approved in 1999, the Houston Chronicle reported, but fundraising took the better part of a decade. General Motors promised $10 million and the Senate appropriated $10 million more in 2005, which brought the fundraising to the halfway point.
Officials expect up to 250,000 to attend the free public dedication, USA Today reported. President Obama will speak, and a concert featuring Aretha Franklin and Steve Wonder will follow.
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