Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is new enough that the first time I was down at the national mall since it opened was for the Cherry Blossom festival in March. The memorial is right on the tidal basin - the statue of Dr. King looks out over the water. Looking at it across the tidal basin, the Lincoln Memorial is behind and too the left of it.

We were there on a week day and there were buses of students on spring field trips. A large group of high school aged students all wearing the same T-shirts were at the memorial as we arrived. Many of them had their phones in their hands but they weren’t texting or talking on them. They were using them to take pictures. They were paying attention to what they were seeing. The tones of their voices were not loud or strident. The monument seems to encourage a reflective demeanor more than anything else.

We walked around reading the quotes at our own pace. Some that I photographed are below. They are etched in the low wall to either side of the statue itself.