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Memorial for Martin Luther King

$100-million project in honour of civil rights leader

— PHOTO: AP

A rendering of the Memorial to be located between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.

New York: The three towering figures in American history — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln — were joined by a fourth on Monday when ground was broken for a national memorial to the civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

King's family, including daughters Yolanda King and Bernice King joined U.S. President George W. Bush, the former President, Bill Clinton, African-American television personalities and civil rights activists to mark the start of construction of a $100-million memorial in honour of the man who led resistance to the segregationist laws of the south.

King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4 1968.

The 1.6-hectare site on the edge of Washington's tidal basin revolves around a 30-foot representation of King surrounded by a circle of stone blocks upon which his most famous speeches will be inscribed. Mr. Clinton said it was a physical manifestation of the monument that already existed in the lives of millions of Americans. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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