Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial, on the National Mall in Washington, DC, is a memorial to United States President Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Memorial
The first stone of the Lincoln Memorial was put into place on Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1915 and the monument was dedicated on May 30, 1922 attended by the former President's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln.
The design of the memorial is modeled on that of a Greek temple; its 36 Doric columns represent the 36 states of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. The focus of the memorial is Daniel Chester French's sculpture of Lincoln, seated.
The Gettysburg Address is inscribed on the south wall of the memorial, and Lincoln's second inaugural address is inscribed on the north wall. Murals by Jules Guerin show an angel, representing truth, freeing a slave (on the north wall, above the Gettysburg Address), and the unity of the American North and South (above the Second Inaugural Address).
The Daniel Chester French sculpture
Like the other monuments on the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial is administered by the National Park Service. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. until midnight, except December 25.
In 1939, the singer Marian Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington because of her skin color. Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to a live audience of 70,000, and a nationwide radio audience.
On August 28, 1963, the monument grounds were the site of one of the greatest political rallies in American history, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which proved to be a high point of the US civil rights movement. In front of the building, numerous speeches were given, including Martin Luther King's greatest, "I Have A Dream".
The Lincoln Memorial is shown on the reverse of the United States penny. After a visit to the memorial, Steve Crooks noted that because the Lincoln Memorial is shown in sufficient detail to discern the statue of Lincoln on the reverse of the penny, Abraham Lincoln is the only person to be depicted on both the obverse and reverse of the same United States coin.
