The King Center recently unveiled a new monument dedicated to civil rights activist Coretta Scott King for her 96th birthday.
On Thursday, April 26, the nonprofit organization unveiled a circular, steel “chapel dome” created for King by artist Saya Woolfalk. Inside the dome, a bronze sculpture of a microphone was built next to a real microphone; with the live microphone, anyone who visits the new monument can use it to make their own voice heard. Woolfalk created a tiled mosaic of the Coretta Scott King rose for the floor of the monument.
The new monument was unveiled alongside a new garden dedicated to King. Also on the grounds of The King Center in Atlanta, the new garden, named “The Coretta Scott King Peace and Meditation Garden,” features the flower beds that enter into the grounds of the monument.
“The magnitude of her contributions to humanity are yet to be known,” said the CEO of The King Center and the Rev. Bernice King, per AP News about her mother. “Today’s dedication of this monument is but a beginning. There’s much more to come, and when her legacy is fully revealed, we will know that because of her, because of Mom, because of Coretta Scott King, the dream lives and the legacy continues.”
The newly built monument is part of a project commissioned by Hulu. Known as the “Made By Her: Monuments,” the project was first announced in 2021. Working in partnership with Woolfalk, Hulu commissioned three monuments for Made By Her.
Along with the monument made for Coretta Scott King, the project includes monuments made for journalist and conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas as well as the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The monuments will be located in Miami and Los Angeles, respectively.
The motivation behind the project is to honor women who are often overlooked as subjects of monuments and statues. According to a recent report by Monument Lab, only six percent of all U.S. monuments are of actual women who have impacted history; of the monuments dedicated to women, only 32% clearly represent the subject, with the other monuments taking on a more abstract look.
“Despite the tremendous contributions that women have made throughout U.S. history, they are still widely underrepresented in public monuments throughout the country, said the President of Hulu, Kelly Campbell, per the press release. “Now more than ever, it is crucial to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of women and other underrepresented groups and Hulu is proud to play a meaningful role in doing so.”
