Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Facts
- The memorial is open 24 hours a day.
- Make sure you check out the bookstore because they have Junior Ranger booklets with activities to explore the National Mall.
- The memorial's address is at 1964 Independence Ave. SW which recognizes the year the 1964 Civil Rights Act was enacted.
- The Martini Luther King, Jr. Memorial is the first memorial on the National Mall that honors an African American individual.
- 906 people entered the contest to design the memorial.
- The statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was created by Master Lei Yixin and the sculpture and the mountain composed of 159 granite blocks. Once it was about 80% sculpted, it was transported by ship from China to Baltimore. Then, it was finished at the memorial site.
- There is so much symbolism at the memorial. There is a Mountain of Despair and Stone of Hope which references King's quote: “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”
Lots more info at the NPS website here.
