CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEERS VISIT
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. NATIONAL MEMORIAL SITE AND
VOW TO SUPPORT MEMORIAL

From left to right: Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles, Reverend William Lawson, Rose Sanders, Dr. Clayborne Carson, Clarence Jones, Xernona Clayton, Reverend Otis Moss, Jr., Dolores Huerta, Reverend Amos Brown, Reverend Al Sampson. Photo credit: Gediyon Kifle

(Washington, D.C., December 4, 2008) - Civil Rights Pioneers from across the country gathered in the nation's capital December 2nd and 3rd for a briefing about the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial and a tour of the Memorial site. They shared personal stories about Dr. King, learned about the Memorial's design and construction status, and vowed to support the Memorial.

Harry E. Johnson, Sr., President and CEO of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., urged the Civil Rights Pioneers to share their involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and to serve as ambassadors for the Memorial Foundation when he spoke at a celebratory dinner at the Madison Hotel.

"Other than the Emancipation Proclamation and President Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. may have done more to achieve political, social and racial justice in America than any other person or event in the previous 448 years," said Clarence Jones, Dr. King's former lawyer, advisor and speech writer and a Scholar in Residence and Visiting Professor at Stanford University. "This Memorial is celebrating the greatest leader that this country has ever had."

Xernona Clayton, Dr. King's Special Assistant who is based in Atlanta, said "When Dr. King received his Nobel Prize money, he gave it all away. He would go out of his way to do things for other people. He wanted the world to be free…And, everyone always wanted to connect with Dr. King. By building this Memorial, you are giving everyone an opportunity to connect with him."

"This memorial is something that cannot be taken away," noted Rose Sanders, a practicing attorney from Alabama who has kept the memory of the Bloody Sunday March alive with an annual reenactment of the march. "This memorial represents hope that we can see, that our children can believe in, and it will be in Washington never to be destroyed."

Additional participants represented by state:
California: Dr. Clayborne Carson, who produced six volumes of the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and is currently a Professor of History at Stanford University; Dolores Huerta who co-founded, along with Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers, based in Keene, CA; and Reverend Amos Brown, Minister of Third Baptist Church, San Francisco, CA

Illinois: Reverend Al Sampson, The only aide to Dr. King in Chicago who was ordained into the ministry by Dr. King

Tennessee: Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles who invited Dr. King to Memphis to support the Sanitation Strike in 1968. While preparing to go to Dr. Kyle's house for dinner, Dr. King was assassinated beside him on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, TN

Texas: Reverend William Lawson, Assisted Texas Southern University students in their desegregation sit-ins at lunch counters in Houston

Ohio: Reverend Otis Moss, Jr., a leading minister in Cleveland and Morehouse College alum.

Reverend Moss led a prayer service on the Memorial site the morning of December 3. The four-acre Memorial will be situated on the Tidal Basin, in a direct line between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials.

Following the Memorial site visit, the Pioneers received a briefing at the National Building Museum by Dr. Ed Jackson, Jr., Executive Architect of the Memorial Foundation, who also showed a virtual tour of the Memorial. He said the Stone of Hope, the centerpiece of the Memorial, will stand nearly 30 feet high and the inscription wall containing portions of Dr. King's quotations and sermons will span 600 feet. The Memorial Foundation is ready to begin construction and is awaiting a construction permit from the National Park Service.

In addition to an overview of the Memorial, Richard Marshall, CFO of the Memorial Foundation stated that the Memorial Foundation has raised $102 million out of the needed $120 million to build the Memorial.

"We were excited and enthused to have the Civil Rights Pioneers visit the site and learn of its many elements," stated Harry E. Johnson. "We are equally excited that several members of our Board our Directors participated and made this a special day for us, including Rod Gillum, Chairman of the Memorial Foundation's Board and the President of the General Motors Foundation and Guy Vickers, a Memorial Foundation Board Member and President of the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation."

Additional major donors include: General Motors, Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, NBA/WNBA, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Walt Disney Company Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Ford Motor Fund, Toyota, AARP, AFLAC, BP America, Inc., CIGNA, Credit Unions of the United States, DuPont, ExxonMobil Foundation, Fannie Mae Corporation, FedEx Corporation, GE, Ann and Joel Horowitz Family Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sheila C. Johnson-Newman, Lehman Brothers, George Lucas, MacFarlane Partners, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, McDonald's Corporation, MetLife Foundation, National Association of Realtors (NAR), National Education Association (NEA), Nationwide Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Pfizer Foundation, Prudential Financial, Inc., Shell Oil Company, State Farm Insurance, Verizon Foundation, Viacom, Wal-Mart and Morehouse College, among others.

About the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.
A Memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be built on the National Mall, situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a Memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006 and the Memorial will be completed in 2010. McKissack & McKissack / Turner Construction Company/ Gilford Corporation / Tompkins Builders, Inc. Joint Venture will serve as the Design-Build Team. McKissack & McKissack is the oldest minority-owned architectural firm in the United States. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.buildthedream.org.