The U.S Commission of Fine Arts is moving toward approval of a revised concept for the Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial and an official construction date is within sight, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.
Additionally, a dinner in Atlanta last week has brought the foundation’s fundraising total to $94.8 million, closing in on the $100 million needed to build the memorial.
The foundation said it plans to set a construction date soon, and the memorial will be completed in about 20 months following the start of construction. Site prep work is expected to start later this year.
In May, news reports said the Fine Arts Commission had attacked the statue portion of the already approved memorial after the commission’s secretary said in a letter that the way King was portrayed in a model of the sculpture was “confrontational.”
Thomas Luebke and Harry Johnson, president and CEO of the memorial foundation, told BlackAmericaWeb.com at the time that the discussion over the statue had been merely part of the normal building process.
Luebke, secretary of the commission, which advises the government on public design and aesthetics on monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital, said the goal is to ensure that the final design matches as closely as possible the original design that was agreed upon. The process, he said, is constantly tweaked before construction begins.
The memorial’s design features two large blocks that represent the Mountain of Despair and the Stone of Hope. The plan is to show King emerging from the Stone of Hope. That portion of the design came under scrutiny when, Luebke said, questions were raised about the flow of action and whether King appeared to be emerging from the stone or simply stuck on it.
The statue is the centerpiece of the memorial on the National Mall on the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt memorials. King will be the first person of color and the first minister to be honored on the mall.
“The memorial foundation has had an on-going and productive dialogue with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and we are proud that our collective hard work has led us to a design solution that will honor the ideals of democracy, justice, hope and love for which Dr. King stood,” Johnson said in a statement last week.
“The King Family wholeheartedly supports the national memorial and the artist who is sculpting a portion of it,” Isaac Newton Farris, Jr., nephew of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., said at the fundraiser in Atlanta last week. “It is the first national memorial to a peaceful and nonviolent warrior on the National Mall. Generations to come need examples of confrontation and boldness. Dr. King was confrontational, and it is appropriate that he be portrayed in that way.”
Master sculptor Lei Yixin of China is the lead sculptor on the project. Lei is being assisted by a team that includes black artists Jon Lockard and Ed Hamilton, who are working with Lei to ensure the accuracy of King’s image.
The memorial foundation announced several major donations at last week’s dinner, including a Nationwide Foundation donation of $1 million, a Delta Air Lines donation of $250,000, and a CVS
The memorial foundation also announced that Angela Fortson, the African-American owner of Southeastern Granite Company based in Elberton, Ga., would be the granite broker to identify granite from domestic sources to be used in building the memorial. The firm provided stone for The Jimmy Carter Presidential Center.
Fortson, the foundation said, also will serve as a subcontractor to McKissack & McKissack / Turner Construction Company/ Gilford Corporation / Tompkins Builders, Inc. Joint Venture, the memorial foundation’s African-American female-led design-build team. McKissack & McKissack is the oldest minority-owned architectural firm in the United States.
“I am proud that the Atlanta community came out in full force to support the building of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial,” said Johnson. “Now is the time for all citizens to follow the lead of the City of Atlanta, the nationwide foundation, and all of our supporters by making a donation of any amount to the memorial.”
The Memorial Foundation has hosted Dream Dinners in Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and San Francisco. A Dream Concert took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City last September. Another event is planned for later summer or early September.
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