This past summer, workers at the Walla Walla Foundry, in the state of Washington, fashioned giant fingers, arms, hands, and a bracelet, to capture a shining moment in history. All the pieces are now assembled, and this Friday, one of the largest memorials dedicated to racial equality will be unveiled in America's oldest public park, Boston Common.
And so, rather than depicting whole figures, Thomas, along with architects from the MASS Design Group, decided to represent a specific moment of intimacy, depicting only their arms and hands."I'm kind of scared, because representing the Kings without their faces is a bold move," Thomas said. Boston is where King met Coretta Scott in the 1950s, and where he earned his Ph.D. in theology at Boston University. He preached in Boston, and in 1965, led a civil rights march from the Roxbury neighborhood to Boston Common, where"The Embrace" now stands."It will be a symbol of Boston," Jeffries said."It will be a symbol of love, belonging and hope."