Although a combination of crazy weather on the East Coast - first an earthquake and then Hurricane Irene - prevented the official Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tribute from taking place as scheduled, a two-hour interfaith prayer service was conducted at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, America's largest Catholic church. Forty-eight years after King's infamous "I Have a Dream" speech, the few remaining relatives of King, along with several of his closest friends, gathered at the National Mall, the original site of King's speech, to honor the influential figure. The official event will take place sometime in September or October on a date that is yet to be determined (Eversley). .
The $120 million memorial erected on the National Mall, just a short distance from where the actual speech was delivered, is a 30-foot sculpture of Dr. King backed by a 450-foot wall with quotes, sermons, and writings inscribed on it. The memorial is the first erected on the National Mall that honors an African American and the first to honor a non-president - a fact that has led some to criticize the memorial (Collins). .
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, of which King was a member of, is responsible for the memorial. They lobbied Congress to authorize it, and then set out to raise the $120 million, most of which came from private donations, to pay for the project (Collins).
"To me, it's not about the monument - it's about the moment, that we recognize that something great did happen. [King] happened to be at the forefront and is recognized, but there are a whole lot more people involved in this and a whole lot more meaning that I don't think people are zeroing in on. This is a moment in history that changed the direction of America," commented Gary Pettway of Sweetwater, TN, who is also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Pettway and his fraternity brothers made the trip to DC for the dedication (Collins).