The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, opened in 2011, is the first on the National Mall to honor an African American and the first to honor a person who was not a US president. The central piece is a 30-foot figure of King carved from white granite, emerging from a larger boulder — the 'Mountain of Despair' — as the 'Stone of Hope,' imagery drawn from King's 1963 speech.
The memorial is set on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The curved wall behind the statue is inscribed with fourteen quotations from King's speeches and writings. The site is particularly meaningful given King's speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963; from this point on the Tidal Basin you can see the Lincoln Memorial across the water. Open 24 hours; free.