With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

King Memorial Gets Construction Permits

The Obama administration gave the green light this afternoon for construction to begin on the National Mall for a long-delayed memorial to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

At a ceremony on the future site of the memorial across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial, Ken Salazar, the Interior secretary, signed the construction permits, along with Harry E. Johnson, the memorial project’s chief executive.

“It is time to honor Martin Luther King Jr. right here in the nation’s front door,” Mr. Salazar said.

The signing ceremony was attended by the slain civil rights leader’s oldest and only living sibling, Dr. Christine King Farris; Representatives Sheila Jackson-Lee and Barbara Lee; Lisa Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, and members of Mr. King’s college fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, including Senator Roland Burris of Illinois.
Read entire article at NYT