The Lincoln Memorial is a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln. The contributions Lincoln made to the Union and to the abolishment of slavery in the United States have earned him the name "Savior of the Union". Lincoln was later assassinated at Ford's Theater while attending a play. He then became a martyr to the causes of union and emancipation.
In 1911, Congress authorized the building of the Lincoln Memorial on the west end of the Mall. Construction began in 1914 and ended in 1922. President Warren G. Harding attended the dedication of the memorial in 1992. The structure of the memorial was designed by Henry Bacon, the statue by Daniel Chester French. Two murals, designed by Jules Guerin, are also present, along with carved inscriptions of two of Lincoln's most important speeches, his Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address.
The memorial has played a large role in the history of Civil Rights protest. On Easter Sunday 1939, some 75,000 people massed at the Lincoln Memorial to hear a recital by African-American Marian Anderson. She had been scheduled to sing on stage at the nearby DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Constitution Hall, but was denied the opportunity because she was black. As a result, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership in the DAR and made arrangements for Anderson to sing instead on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Anderson's performance set the stage for future rallies and protests.
On August 28th, 1963, 250,000 Freedom Marchers gathered around the Lincoln Memorial for a historic rally. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the podium on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered one of the most famous speeches in American history, the "I Have a Dream" speech. It was a ringing call for racial equality and for civil rights. Audio samples of the famous speech can now be heard on the Internet as well.
The Lincoln Memorial, damaged over the years by heavy visitation and various environment factors, is undergoing major restoration along with the Jefferson Memorial. More information on the memorial can be found on the Lincoln Memorial Homepage and Virtual Visitors' Center.
This is the end of the Mall tour.
If you'd like, you can return to the beginning or return to the Tour Starting Point.
