The King Boston memorial, The Embrace, anchored on Boston Common, where, in 1965, Dr. King called Boston to live by its highest ideals. The Common, America’s first public park, has a vibrant 400-year-old history and a tradition of civic gatherings. The new memorial will spark a new public conversation about how to advance racial and social justice in Boston today.
Over 100 teams from around the world submitted plans for a memorial. The Art Committee whittled that number down to five finalists, whose concepts were shared for public input at the Boston Public Library, the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury and online in the summer of 2018. Around 1,000 public comments were received and cataloged.
On March 4, 2019, the King Boston Art Committee announced that it had selected The Embrace, by artist Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group, as the design for a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, to be sited on Boston Common.
Embrace Boston unveiled The Embrace and the 1965 Freedom Plaza in January 2023 on the Boston Common, the first public park in our nation. The Embrace Memorial is an important cultural symbol of equity and justice for Boston residents and all those who visit the city.
The concept of a memorial to the Kings has been alive in Boston for decades, and a memorial to Dr. King is already in place at Boston University, but entrepreneur Paul English jumpstarted the effort to honor Martin and Coretta together with a financial commitment to a memorial in 2017. Paul and his co-chair, Rev. Liz Walker, pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, convened an Art Committee of renowned educators, visual artists and curators rooted in the Black art tradition to help shepherd the design process, and coordinated an extensive series of meetings in neighborhoods across Boston to get public input into the best ways to celebrate and advance the Kings’ work in Boston.
The artwork is a permanent monument representing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s love and powerful presence in Boston, a time that helped shape their approach to an equitable society.