It was a freezing day when I visited the Lincoln Memorial – I hate the cold – but I would go again because I feel a second visit would truly drive home what the memorial stands for.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, just as the Civil War was ending. By March of 1867, Congress incorporated the Lincoln Monument Association to build a memorial to the slain 16th president.
Henry Bacon, a New York architect, built the memorial which took eight years to complete from 1914 to 1922.
Info from culturaltourismdc.org: Since 1922 the Lincoln Memorial has served as a national stage for protests and celebrations. On Easter Sunday 1939, operatic soprano Marian Anderson sang in front of 75,000 people after DAR Constitution Hall and the D.C. Board of Education refused to let her perform in their venues.
In 1963 more than 250,000 participants in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his magnificent “I Have a Dream” speech from the memorial’s steps. (In 2003, on the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, the National Park Service marked the spot where King spoke, a landing 18 steps below the chamber.) .
Leave A Comment