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NCPC Adopts Coalition Recommendation on M.L. King PlaqueOn Thursday, September 5, 2002, Wendy Shutts Halsey of Congresswoman Anne M. Northup’s office (R-KY) and Charles Cassell, Vice Chairman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, testified before the National Capital Planning Commission on the placement of a plaque at the Lincoln Memorial in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The address was made at the close of the 1963 March on Washington. Congressional legislation P.L. 106-365 provided for the location of such a memorial plaque at the Lincoln Memorial. Halsey and Cassell persuaded NCPC to reject the National Park Service proposal for location of the memorial plaque at the bottom of the steps leading up to Lincoln’s statue. NCPC also rejected the recommendation of its own staff for location of the plaque on the landing halfway between the bottom and the top of the steps. Halsey and Cassell pointed to the great historical significance of Dr. King’s oratorical delivery and the appropriateness of locating the plaque on the very spot where the speech was delivered, at the top of the steps. They reasoned that the location proposed by NPS was most inappropriate as the King plaque would then be adjacent to and on the same level as a plaque that recognized the admission of Alaska and Hawaii to statehood. They also reasoned that the plaque should be oriented toward the Washington Monument rather than toward the statue of Lincoln as proposed by the National Park Service. Accordingly, when viewing the plaque, one would face in the same direction, with the same grand view of the Reflecting Pool and the thousands of people on either side and beyond, as Dr. King did during the speech. At the end of this discussion, NCPC recommended that the National Park Service revise its proposal with a view toward location of the plaque at the top of the steps on the spot where Dr. King’s podium was located. We commend the National Capital Planning Commission for this reasoned and constructive decision on the issue. |
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