BOSTON (WHDH) - After careful planning, creativity and construction work, a 20-foot-high bronze sculpture honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled on Boston Common on Friday during a ceremony that drew members of the King family.
When it comes to the legacy of the King family, Boston is embracing their impact and lives with the addition of “The Embrace” statue in the city park – a sculpture featuring two entwined arms that pays tribute to the couple who fell in love in the city and went on to change the world.
The sculpture, created by artist Hank Willis Thomas, was inspired by a photo of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King embracing after the civil rights leader learned he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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WATCH: The moment “The Embrace” was officially unveiled at Boston Common
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The two’s love story began in Boston in the 1950s, when Martin Luther King Jr. was studying at Boston University while Coretta Scott was studying at the New England Conservatory. Jefferies said the Boston Common, the location of one of the couple’s first dates, was the perfect place to honor them and their enduring dream.
“Boston could be a new city,” Jefferies told 7NEWS. “With ‘The Embrace,’ it could be the city of belonging, inclusion and love. To have this memorial in America’s oldest park, where six million visitors per year walk through the park, felt like the most appropriate place to put it – on the Freedom Trail, in proximity so that visitors and residents have access to it.”
The site has other historical meaning, as well. Dr. King led a march for racial equality on April 23, 1965, which started in Roxbury and featured 22,000 people gathering on the Common to hear him speak. Jefferies calls the spot hallowed ground.
“When you’re on the site, it’s very quiet – it’s very joyful, it’s very contemplative,” he added.
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