MLK ‘Embrace’ sculpture unveiled on Boston Common
By WCVB Staff
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BOSTON (WCVB) — The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial statue “The Embrace” was unveiled Friday on Boston Common.
The $10 million, bronze, 20-foot tall and 40-foot wide sculpture is the largest monument in the country dedicated to racial equity.
It was created in Washington state by conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas and lowered into place earlier this year on the Common.
Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of EmbraceBoston, the organization behind the memorial, noted the significance of the sculpture’s placement at the Boston Common, America’s oldest public park and a high-traffic area with millions of city residents and visitors walking its paths every year.
“I think Boston has this reputation of being this city of heroes and abolitionists, like W.E.B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, simultaneously with this reputation of not being friendly and in some cases being described as racist. So there’s this tension between these two images of Boston. Having the memorial there is part of our intention to transform our city’s perspective.”
The sculpture symbolizes the hug King Jr. shared with his wife, Coretta, after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and celebrates their time in Boston.
The couple met while he was getting his doctorate at Boston University and she was at the New England Conservatory. One of the Kings’ first dates was on the Common, and the Parkman Bandstand was the final location of the 1965 Freedom Rally.
The artwork lies within the 1965 Freedom Plaza, which simultaneously honors 69 local civil rights heroes selected by their communities for their work during the Kings’ time in the city.
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