Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

This memorial on the northwest edge of the Tidal Basin honors the civil rights leader with a colossal granite sculpture known as the Stone of Hope, which appears to emerge from a split boulder called the Mountain of Despair. Dedicated in 2011, it is the first Mall memorial centered on an African American and on a figure who held no public office. A curved inscription wall carries quotations drawn from King's speeches and sermons. Its position offers clear sightlines across the water toward the Jefferson Memorial.