The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was installed in 2011 along the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. The memorial was designed by Lei Yixin.
Two days after I was here, the country began shutting down in earnest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In hindsight, it wasn’t a smart move to go to the National Mall that day, but I did. There weren’t many people out and about on a Monday. The cherry blossoms weren’t out yet, and it was too early for the ritual 8th-grade class visits or spring break. I lucked out.
The side of the main stonework, featuring Dr. King, is inscribed OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN OF DESPAIR, A STONE OF HOPE.
No famous people are immortalized in this shot, except the subject of the Memorial.
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Smithsonian Magazine