The memorial was the result of two decades of planning and fund-raising led by Alpha Phi Alpha, an African America fraternity that King joined in 1952. The memorial was made possible by thousands of individual donations totaling over $100 million.&nbsp;Te completion of the memorial&nbsp;marked the first time that an African American leader was commemorated with a statue on or adjacent to the National Mall.&nbsp;Sculptor Lei Yixin designed the memorial, which depicts King as part of "The Stone of Hope" emerging from "The Wall of Despair."&nbsp; The completion of the memorial appeared in jeopardy when King's children demanded payment for the use of King's likeness and quotes. The resulting conflict marred the completion and dedication of the memorial in ways many historians claimed would have deeply concerned the slain civil rights leader. The statue of King originally included a paraphrased quote by King that also led to controversy. Maya Angelou petitioned for the removal of the phrase "&nbsp;"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness" from the side of the statue of King, for two main reasons. First, the paraphrased quote was not accurate and lacked the full context of the longer quote. Second, many activists and historians believed that the paraphrased quote, without any context or background, supported&nbsp;the impression that King was&nbsp;egotistical. Defenders of the original statue design explained that they had edited King's quote so that it better fit on the side of the statue. In 2012, the Secretary of the Interior ordered the removal of the quote.&nbsp;

In 1996, Congress authorized the creation of a memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King. Construction of the King Memorial began in 2010, with the public dedication of the monument on August 28, 2011. Visitors to the Memorial can reflect upon the life and legacy of Dr. King as they read selected quotes from various parts of King's life that are carved into a granite wall behind the statue of King. The memorial is surrounded by cherry trees and the Tidal Basin, and is near the FDR Memorial. There is a bookstore located near the memorial that offers a wide variety of books and other items related to the history of King and the civil rights movement. The National Park Service also offers guides and special programs led by park rangers throughout the day. 

The memorial was dedicated on August 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington that featured MLK's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president four times
and served from 1933 until 1945.&nbsp; He helped
pull the United States through the Great Depression with the New Deal and navigated the
political and military turmoil of World War II. &nbsp;This memorial at the National Mall is part of
the National Park Service and is actually the second memorial dedicated to
him.&nbsp; The first is a simple, small marble
slab, just as Roosevelt had wanted.&nbsp; The
larger of the two covers 7.5 acres and was designed by landscape architect,
Lawrence Halprin. &nbsp;It is designed as four
outdoor rooms, all engraved with quotes from FDR.&nbsp; In the spaces are ten bronze statues
depicting FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, and even his dog, Fala. &nbsp;The inclusion of Fala is unique as it is the
only memorial at the National Mall to also memorialize a dog.1 The memorial was completed in 1997 and is the first in
Washington, D.C. to be designed as fully wheelchair accessible.2

The FDR Memorial stands on land created out of the sediment
of the Potomac River.&nbsp; In the late 1800s
the river channel was altered by the US Army Corps of Engineers and made to be
narrower and deeper.&nbsp; Parks were created on
the east and west side of the Potomac from the dredged river bottom.&nbsp; It is no accident that water is integral to Roosevelt’s
memorial, as he spent much of his childhood near the Hudson River and also
served as the Assistant Secretary to the Navy in WWI.&nbsp; The waterfalls and pools integrated into the
design are a nod to his past as well as a method of drowning out the
surrounding city and airport noise.3

The memorial today is slightly different from Halprin’s
original 1997 design.&nbsp; In 2001, a statue
of FDR seated in a wheelchair was added after a push from the National Organization
of Disability.&nbsp; FDR was diagnosed with
polio in 1921 and soon the disease caused his legs to be paralyzed. He was very
careful to not be seen in public in a wheelchair because he felt it made him look
vulnerable and less able to command a great country.&nbsp; Halprin did not include this depiction at
first because he knew that was a secret FDR held close and therefore he did not
want to immortalize that aspect of his story.4

Perhaps not by accident, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Memorial is the largest of the presidential memorials, commemorating the man
who served as president the longest in the history of the nation.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and completed in 1997. It is part of the National Park Service, which is quite fitting as FDR referenced the importance of national parks to the enrichment of the citizens and country of America in a 1936 speech.  It is comprised of four outdoor rooms, ten bronze statues, and various water features covering 7.5 acres.  It is the first memorial in Washington, D.C. to be designed as fully wheelchair accessible.

FDR and Fala.  Photo courtesy of Bill Shugart.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

The
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission was created by an Act of Congress in 1934,
to design a memorial honoring the Founding Father and third President of the
United States. This memorial was part of larger efforts throughout the
twentieth century to populate the National Mall and surrounding areas with
memorials and monuments to American history and culture. With the Washington Monument
and Lincoln Memorial already completed, federal planners, including President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Commission of Fine Arts, felt that a memorial to
Jefferson was an appropriate next step. Additionally, the Jefferson Memorial fulfilled
part of the McMillan Commission Plan of 1902, used as a guide for urban
planning in Washington, D.C., which envisioned a grand memorial on the Tidal
Basin on the cross axis of the White House and Washington Monument. Originally,
this was a proposed site for the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial.&nbsp;

In 1937,
the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission chose the Tidal Basin as the site and
hired architect John Russell Pope, designer of the National Gallery of Art. Frederick
Law Olmstead, Jr. oversaw landscape design, which redirected streets,
established grassy areas, and removed some trees to improve the viewshed. Though
it may have seemed like all the pieces were coming together, there were a
number of debates over the memorial location and design. Some members of the Commission
of Fine Arts and the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission disliked
the Pantheon design or thought the neoclassical architecture was too similar to
the Lincoln Memorial. Due to delays, President Roosevelt overrode the authority
of the Commission of Fine Arts and ordered construction begin. The President laid
the cornerstone on November 15, 1939, in which a number of documents were
placed: copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the 1939 Thomas
Jefferson Memorial Commission Report, the "Writings of Thomas
Jefferson" by Paul Leicester Ford, Jefferson's “The Life and Morals of Jesus
of Nazareth,” and one edition each of four prominent Washington, D.C., newspapers.
It was dedicated on April 13, 1943, the bicentennial of Jefferson's birth.

Architect
John Russell Pope took inspiration for the memorial from civilizations both
young and old. He borrowed designs from Jefferson’s most famous buildings,
Monticello and the University of Virginia Rotunda, along with the ancient Pantheon
in Rome, which Jefferson admired. These designs reflected Jefferson’s
architectural tastes. Pope planned a memorial that would symbolize all the roles
Jefferson played in American history—statesman, architect, drafter of the
Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia, and President
of the United States. Pope designed a circular, open air structure with 54
columnns. The porch, or portico, supports a triangular pediment with sculptures
by Adolph A. Weinman depicting Jefferson and members of the Declaration of Independence
drafting committee. Jefferson stands at the center, with (from left to right) Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The granite steps
lead up to a floor of pink Tennessee marble, with Georgia marble on the
interior walls.

The
interior of the memorial contains five of Jefferson’s most famous quotations. The
memorial designers often edited or combined quotes so that they would fit on
the wall panels:

<ul><li>Inscription under the dome: Jefferson’s statement on
protecting “against every form of tyranny over the mind of man,” taken from an
1800 letter to Founding Father Benjamin Rush.</li><li>"We hold these truths to be self-evident..."&nbsp;is the introduction the 1776 Declaration of Independence,
affirming “all men are created equal.”</li><li>"Almighty God hath created the mind free..." addresses&nbsp;Jefferson’s view on the freedom of
religion, from his 1779 “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom.”</li><li>"God who gave us life gave us liberty..." is a&nbsp;combination of six quotes from a
variety of writings, including his 1786 “Notes on Virginia” and “Summary View”
on the topics of slavery and public education, his autobiography, and letters.</li><li>"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions..." captures&nbsp;Jefferson’s sentiments on establishing laws and institutions that are both strong and adjustable to "keep pace with the times." This is inspired by&nbsp;an 1816 letter to Virginia lawyer Samuel Kercheval.</li></ul>









Rudulph
Evans designed the 19-foot statue of Jefferson at the center of the memorial
rotunda. His design was selected from a group of 101 proposals in a nationwide
competition. From 1943 to 1945, the memorial displayed a temporary plaster
statue because of wartime restrictions on metal. After the war, the plaster
statue was replaced with a 5-ton bronze replica on a granite pedestal, which
has stood in the Jefferson Memorial ever since. The statue depicts a
middle-aged Jefferson looking toward the White House and holding the
Declaration in Independence in his left hand.




















Protected
by the National Park Service, the Jefferson Memorial is an iconic part of the National
Mall. Walkways along the Tidal Basin provide beautiful views of the Jefferson
Memorial, while the vista from the memorial of Washington, D.C. and the Potomac
is equally stunning. Cherry trees brought from Japan in 1912 bloom each spring
around the Tidal Basin. The statue of Jefferson continues to look toward the
White House and the democracy he helped found.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father and the third President of the United States. Built between 1939 and 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was designed by John Russell Pope in neoclassical architecture styles reminiscent of Jefferson's estate Monticello, the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, and the Pantheon in Rome. The memorial interior includes a bronze statue of Jefferson by Rudulph Evans and five of Jefferson's notable quotations. It is situated on the picturesque Tidal Basin on the National Mall, managed by the National Park Service.

View of the Jefferson Memorial from the Tidal Basin at dusk. Photo by Joe Ravi, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

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The Tidal Basin

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