Montgomery

Civil Rights Memorial, Maya Lin, 1989
In 1988, Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, vowed to create a monument honoring the memory and achievements of those who died during the Civil Rights Movement in the South. He also wanted to educate future generations about the important events of the era. Within a year, the memorial was designed and built. It is made up of a circular black granite table recording the names of 40 people killed between 1954 and 1968 while struggling for civil rights, and also chronicles the history of the movement in lines that radiate like the hands of a clock. Water emerges from the table's center and flows over its edge. Water also cascades over a curved black granite wall behind the table. Engraved on the wall are words from the Bible quoted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on several occasions: "... until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."