Monthly Archives: January 2018

Monday, January 15, 2018 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday

“… Not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” Speech. August 28, 1963.

This is probably the best photograph I have taken up to this point in my life. It was take on June 2012.

It is copyrighted, so do not take it call it yours and hang it on the wall. If there are any lawyers left who are not suing somebody in the government, then I will sue you for copyright violation.

It is the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The Lincoln memorial was dedicated by President Warren G. Harding in 1922. Talk about some presidential scandals during a president’s administration.

Robert Todd Lincoln, age 78, and Lincoln’s only surviving son attended the dedication. Three of four sons and a husband dead before their time and you wonder why Mary Todd was depressed.

The 36 columns represent the states of the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death; the 48 stone festoons above the columns represent the 48 states in 1922. I had to look up festoon; you can too.

Inside, each inscription is surmounted by a 60-by-12-foot (18.3 by 3.7 m) mural by Jules Guerin portraying principles seen as evident in Lincoln’s life: Freedom, Liberty, Immortality, Justice, and the Law on the south wall; Unity, Fraternity, and Charity on the north. Cypress trees, representing Eternity, are in the murals’ backgrounds. The murals’ paint incorporated kerosene and wax to protect the exposed artwork from fluctuations in temperature and moisture.^[13]

The ceiling consists of bronze girders ornamented with laurel and oak leaves. Between these are panels of Alabama marble, saturated with paraffin to increase translucency. But feeling that the statue required even more light, Bacon and French designed metal slats for the ceiling to conceal floodlights, which could be modulated to supplement the natural light; this modification was installed in 1929. The one major alteration since was the addition of a handicapped elevator in the 1970s.

Freedom, Liberty, Immortality, Justice, Law, Unity, Fraternity, and Charity are just a few of the words one sees or feels when standing before this sculpture.

Inscription above the sculpture – In this temple as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever. Photo by me – 2012

Many individuals have stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to continue to strive to achieve the words and symbols enshrined in this great memorial.

On this day and for each tomorrow, we stand together and continue to live and die for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that all are created equal and we can live in a country where we are free to express our views without fears of repercussions.

Let us continue to dream that it will be the content of our character and not the color or shape of our skin that unites us.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King.