The year is 1988. Recently, the Southern Poverty Law Center won
a legal victory over the Ku Klux Klan in the case of Beulah Mae
Donald vs. The United Klans of America. The NAACP (National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People) invited Mr. Dees to speak
before an audience about the victory. During Morris Dees' closing
statement in this case, he mentioned the names of several people
who died during the Civil Rights Movement. These names included
Emmett Till, Andrew Goodman, James, Chaney, Michael Schwener,
Medgar Evers, Viola Luizzo and many more. After the speech was
made and the procession was over a young member of the NAACP asked
Morris Dees, who were the people in which he named. Mr. Dees began
to explain who each person was and how they made the ultimate
sacrifice for doing something they believed in was right. As Mr.
Dees continued, more and more young members gathered to heard
about the history of these people.
When the Civil Rights Movement was happening, it was not taught
in the classroom. Many of the young people who approached Mr.
Dees on that day were not old enough to remember what happened
then. And most likely, the story of Viola Luizzo, a white woman
killed by Klan members after driving marchers to Selma, would
not make the history books of students everywhere.
The day after Morris Dees made the speech, he promised to make
a memorial in dedication to the people who lost their lives in
the fight for equality and to educate people about them. Morris
Dees and the SPLC Board of Directors began working on the Civil
Rights Memorial. They compiled a list of 40 people who lost their
lives between May 17, 1954 and April 4, 1968. Those two dates
mark two significant events in the Civil Rights Movement. On May
17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed Segregation
in Schools in Brown vs. Board of Education [347 U.S. 483]. On
April 4, 1968, Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated.
Now they needed a designer to make the memorial .They hired Maya
Lin. Maya Lin created the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C.
honoring U.S. Vietnam veterans who died in the war.
The Civil Rights Memorial is unique in itself. It educates people
about the Civil Rights Movement with the names of the 40 people
who died. And with the quote of Martin Luther King Jr. from the
book of Amos, it encourages them to reflect on the movement, its
purpose, and end; "…until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness
like a might stream."
The names are spread on the circular table of the Memorial like
the numbers and hands of a clock. From the center of the table
is a source of water that flows to the edge of the table. The
water symbolizes many things including healing and the sound of
water is soothing. Not only so, but people can see their own reflections
in the water on the table over the names of the people. Directly
behind the table is a large black granite wall. Engraved on the
wall is Dr. King's quote and water streams over the wall too.
"the ability to see and touch the names glistening in the water
- and simultaneously to see one's own reflection - would add to
the sacredness of the site." - Maya Lin
"This is not a memorial to suffering; it is a memorial to hope."
