Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Opened in 2011 on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin, the first memorial on the Mall dedicated to an African American and to a non-president. The 9 m Stone of Hope, carved from Chinese granite, shows King emerging from a split Mountain of Despair, an image taken from his I Have a Dream speech. A curved inscription wall carries quotations from his sermons and writings. The site was deliberately placed on a sightline between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. Open 24 hours, free; a five minute walk from the Lincoln Memorial and usually visited on the way to the FDR and Jefferson memorials.