Thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, October 16, to give the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial a proper dedication on the National Mall after its opening in August. The August dedication was postponed because of Hurricane Irene.Aretha Franklin, poet Nikki Giovanni, and President Barack Obama were among those who honored the legacy of the nation's foremost civil rights leader during a ceremony that ran more than four hours.
The crowd, some of whom came out as early as 5 a.m., included people of all ages and races. Some women wore large Sunday hats for the occasion.
The president arrived late morning with his wife and two daughters, an arrival that drew loud cheers from those watching his entrance on large screens. He spoke from a podium set up with part of the memorial as a backdrop.
In his remarks, President Obama urged the nation to celebrate the dedication of the memorial to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. by continuing to press for the goals and hopes of the "black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams" and who helped make the nation "more perfect."
The president said the nation was still encountering many of the same challenges that King saw when he made his "I Have a Dream" speech—rhetoric that helped galvanize the civil rights movement in 1963.
Obama told more than 10,000 spectators and dignitaries who helped unveil the King monument that in many communities little has changed.
"In too many troubled neighborhoods across the county, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago," he said. "There are neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care . . . violence. Our work is not done."
"So on this day when we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for our country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles," Obama said.
Cherry Hawkins traveled from Houston with her cousins and arrived at 6 a.m. to be part of the dedication. "I wanted to do this for my kids and grandkids," Hawkins said. She expects the memorial will be in their history books someday. "They can say, `Oh, my granny did that.'"
Hawkins, her cousin DeAndrea Cooper, and Cooper's daughter Brittani Jones, 23, visited the King Memorial on Saturday. "You see his face in the memorial, and it's kind of an emotional moment," Cooper said. "It's beautiful. They did a wonderful job."
A stage for speakers and thousands of folding chairs were set up on a field near the memorial along with large TV screens. Most of the 10,000 chairs set out appeared to be full. Many other people were standing.
Actress Cicely Tyson said her contemporaries are passing the torch to a new generation and passed the microphone to 12-year-old Amandla Stenberg. The girl recalled learning about the civil rights movement in school and named four young girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
"As Dr. King said at their funeral, `They didn't live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives,'" Amandla said. "I plan to live a meaningful life, too."
About 1.5 million people are estimated to have visited the 30-foot-tall statue of King and the granite walls where 14 of his quotations are carved in stone. The memorial is the first on the National Mall honoring a Black leader.
The sculpture of King with his arms crossed appears to emerge from a stone extracted from a mountain. It was carved by Chinese artist Lei Yixin. The design was inspired by a line from the famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963: "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."
King's "Dream" speech during the March on Washington galvanized the civil rights movement.
King's older sister, Christine King Farris, said she witnessed a baby become "a great hero to humanity." She said the memorial will ensure her brother's legacy will provide a source of inspiration worldwide for generations.
To young people in the crowd, she said King's message is that "Great dreams can come true and America is the place where you can make it happen."
King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, said her family is proud to witness the memorial's dedication. She said it was a long time coming and had been a priority for her mother, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006.
Bernice King and her brother Martin Luther King III said their father's dream is not yet realized. Martin Luther King III said the nation has "lost its soul" when it tolerates vast economic disparities, teen bullying, and having more people of color in prison than in college.
He said the memorial should serve as a catalyst to renew his father's fight for social and economic justice.
"The problem is the American dream of 50 years ago . . . has turned into a nightmare for millions of people" who have lost their jobs and homes, King said.
The choir from King's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta was scheduled to sing.
The nation's first Black president, who was just six years old when King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, spoke about the man he has said "gave his life serving others." Giovanni read her poem, "In the Spirit of Martin," and Aretha Franklin sang.
Early in the ceremony, during a rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the crowd cheered when images on screen showed Obama on the night he won the 2008 presidential election. Obama, who credits King with paving his way to the White House, left a copy of his inaugural speech in a time capsule at the monument site. He said King was a man who "stirred our conscience" and made the Union "more perfect."
Making changes that might rock the status quo, as King and other civil rights leaders attempted with civil disobedience, sit-ins, and marches, is no easy task, the president said. And that lesson, he said, could be applied today.
"It is right to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily. . . . For every victory in the height of the civil rights movement there were setbacks, there were defeats," Obama said. But King and other leaders, as well as thousands of foot soldiers in the civil rights movement, persisted, and ultimately prevailed by helping secure passage of key civil rights and voting rights legislation.
"Let us draw strength from those earlier struggles," said Obama, adding that the nation today is "more fair and more free and more just" than the one King addressed.
"I know we will overcome. I know there are better days ahead," Obama said to applause. "Let us keep striving, let us keep struggling, let us keep climbing to that promised land of a nation and a world that is more fair and more just."
President Obama said King deserved a place on the National Mall because "he had faith in us . . . he saw what we might become."
Hugh Blackwell, 32, of Reston, Virginia, a salesman for an electrical supply company, said after Obama’s speech that he was struck by the quiet scene that played out over the big-screen televisions when the president toured the memorial with the first lady and their children, Sasha and Malia.
Blackwell said the moment was extremely symbolic and showed the progress since King’s death.
"It was America as it should be," Blackwell said.