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As the nation prepares to celebrate the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, the city of Boston has a very special gift: a new memorial is being unveiled January 13 in Boston Common, the beautiful public park at the city’s center, honoring Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

The 22-foot-tall bronze sculpture anchoring the memorial, “The Embrace,” is the first large monument to be installed in Boston Common in 125 years. The powerful piece depicts the Kings’ shoulders, arms, and hands curved around each other in its namesake hug.

The memorial is the vision of the nonprofit Embrace Boston (originally named King Boston), which has been working with the City of Boston and the Boston Foundation to create a living memorial and programs to honor the legacy of Dr. and Mrs. King in the city where they met as he was earning his Ph.D. in theology at Boston University and she was earning her second bachelor’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music. From the beginning it was critical that it celebrate both Kings and their shared work.

Imari Paris Jeffries, the executive director of Embrace Boston, noted at the groundbreaking that the sculpture is meant to be a symbol of love along with being a symbol of equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.

Read the Full Column: https://www.childrensdefense.org/child-watch-columns/health/2023/a-new-t…