Local memorial for a national hero: Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park, Seattle
Local memorial for a national hero
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park, Seattle
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park is a four-and-a-half acre City of Seattle park on the east side of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, between South Walker and South Bayview Streets. The park is designed around a black granite 'mountain' — a dramatic, thirty-foot sculpture inspired by the civil rights leader's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, made the day before he was assassinated in 1968.
The idea of the monument originated with Seattle resident Charlie James in 1983; the sculpture was designed by the late Robert Kelly, who was an instructor at Edmonds Community College, and the project was realized through organizing and fundraising efforts by the Martin Luther King Memorial Committee, chaired by Herman McKinney. The memorial was dedicated Nov. 16, 1991.
The sculpture is a symbolic memorial to Dr. King, made of three segments which represent both the Christian Trinity and the union of the family. The sculpture rises from an elliptical reflecting pool, surrounded by a low wall and walkway. Around its edge, positioned as the hours on the face of a clock, twelve bronze plaques recall events in King's life: his birth, his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, his assassination and the creation of the national holiday in his honor.
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