BOSTON — Nearly 60 years after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed thousands on the Boston Common, city officials unveiled a sculpture commemorating the civil rights leader and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
The bronze sculpture, which is 20 feet tall and 26 feet wide, is the largest monument in the U.S. dedicated to racial equity and is located in the town where the couple first met. King was studying as a doctoral student in theology at Boston University when he met Coretta, who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music.
The Boston piece depicts the arms, shoulders and hands of the two hugging after King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 -- a moment special to Black conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, creator of"The Embrace." "This is a work that's going to be in Boston Common, which has been around for 400 years. So possibly it's going to be in Boston Common for another 400 years," Thomas said."Rather than it being a monument to a hero of a war or victims of a war -- It's actually a monument to two heroes of nonviolence and so I'm really excited to see a new gesture and a new way of celebrating people.
"We are all challenged to carry for their unfinished work. This is the spirit we must keep as we commemorate the 37th Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday."
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