Downtown in Anchorage, Alaska — Northwest (North America)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial

Entrance along L Street
Donor List not transcribed

Inscription.

Panel 1
"Religion Gives Man Wisdom."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top photo] Dr. King leads religious leaders in prayer at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier to protest the Vietnam War, 2/6/1968 at Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

[Bottom photo] Alaska Native dancers, drummers and singers in Kotzebue, Alaska.

Panel 2
"Don't be careful. Get out and do something. If it is a little hard, good;
trust what you believe in and trust what is inside of you."
Rosie Porter
Tundra Drums Newspaper Editor, Bethel.

[Top photo] Dr. King at podium.

[Bottom photo] Members of the Filipino community with 4th of July float in parade in 1931.

Panel 3
"If I can help somebody as I pass along,
if I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
if I can show somebody that he's traveling wrong,
then my life will not be in vain"
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Right photo] Dr. King escorting school children.

[Left photo] Howard (Weyahok) Rock, a distinguished artist, founded the Tundra Times in 1962, through which he successfully fought for the civil rights of Native Alaskans.

Panel 4
"I'm not satisfied with awareness,
I want action."
Emma

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Widmark, Grand Camp President
Alaska Native Sisterhood
Juneau, Alaska

[Top photo] Dr. King speaks at all white Girard College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, intoning that "we want all our rights." 8/4/1965

[Bottom photo] Dr. King addresses gathering after aborted march in Selma, Alabama.

Panel 5
"There are three kinds of persons who practice discrimination.
First, the politician who wants to maintain an interior
minority group so that he can always promise them something;
second, the Mr. and Mrs. Jones who aren't quite sure of their social position
and are nice to you on one occasion and can't see you on others,
depending on who they are with; and third, the great
Superman who believes in the superiority of the white race"
Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich,
Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood

[Top photo] The Anti-Discrimination Bill was passed by the territorial legislature in 1945 supported by the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood for two years. Mrs. Elizabeth Peratrovich, President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, addressed the Senate arguing for equal rights for Alaska Native peoples.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 1 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 1

Left to right: Sen. O.D. Cochran, Mrs. Elizabeth Peratrovich, Gov. Ernest Gruening, Rep. Anderson, Sen. N.R. Walker, Mr. Roy Peratrovich.

[Bottom photo] Frank H. Williams is greeted by Anchorage Mayor Ken Hinchey and the NAACP. Blanche McSmith (left of Williams) was appointed by Gov. William Egan as the 1st African American in the State Legislature. Joseph Jackson (left of McSmith) was an advocate for equal employment in labor unions.

Panel 6
"The great experiment begun so daringly and so hopefully two centuries ago,
that great legacy bequeathed to us by the patriots of the day
...is too precious and priceless to be destroyed...

The rest of the nation needs to follow the example and recapture
the courage of those - past and present - who inculcated and preserved
the spirit of free men which has guided and galvanized America.

Along with our basic freedoms to speak, to write, to think as we please,
must also be freedom from fear. Men are not really free if they have
to wonder whether they are. Thus believing, and acting accordingly,
we shall win this battle and make the America we love happen again."
Ernest Gruening, Many Battles,

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 2 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

3. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 2

1973

[Left photo] Rosa Parks, initiator of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in 1955, speaks with former schoolmate Mahala Ashley Dickerson, the first African American attorney to pass the Alaska state bar.

[Right photo] Mary Bong arrived in Sitka, Alaska on Oct. 12, 1895 and is believed to be the first Chinese American woman in Alaska. She died in 1958 after a life of adventure and endurance.

Panel 7
"In a multiracial society no
group can make it alone."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top photo] Dr. King addresses a crowd at Lakeview, New York, 5/12/1965.

[Bottom photo] The white 18th Engineers and the black 97th Engineers raced to complete the Alaska Highway, which the 97th Engineers won. Cpl. Refines Sims from the 97th (left) shakes hands with Pvt. Alfred Jolufa from the 18th.

Panel 8
"I've seen too much hate to want to hate."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top photo] Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in a happy mood during protest march.

[Bottom photo] Anchorage Assembly of Friendly Church of God in Christ, Sunday School, 5/1968.

Panel 9
"It is logical, moral, and psychologically constructive for us
to resist oppression united as families. Out of this unity, out of
the bond of fighting together, forges will come."
Martin

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 3 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 3

Luther King, Jr.

[Left photo] Dr. King, freed from prison on $2,000 appeal bond, is met at the airport by his wife, Coretta, and his children, Yolanda and Martin Luther III.

[Right photo] Native Alaskans after a seal hunt.

Panel 10
"I didn't know I was underprivileged
until the missionaries told me.
Clare Swan, Chief
Kenaitze Indian Tribe
Kenai, Alaska

[Right photo] Alaska Native man and girl, with American flag.

[Left photo] Alaska Native man carving a totem.

Panel 11
"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality;
tied in a single garment of destiny."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top photo] Native Alaskans participating in traditional walrus-skin blanket toss in Nome, Alaska.

[Bottom photo] Multiracial group of children at Anchorage's Friendly Church of God in Christ, 3/21/1969.

Panel 12
"Always keep in mind that you are original. Be proud of your sex
and whatever racial identity you happen to be linked with.
Never allow either to affect your dreams or
what you want to do with your life."
Mahala Ashley Dickerson, Anchorage Attorney

[Top left photo] Aleut women weaving baskets

[Top right photo] Berry Picker,

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 4 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

5. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 4

Nome, Alaska

[Bottom photo] Ruth Frank Jackson and Sadie Johnson Masters

Panel 13
"Life at its best is a creative synthesis
of opposites in fruitful harmony."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top right photo] First Nations burial, Carmacks, Yukon Territory, Canada

[Bottom left photo] Father Guest blesses water for a prosperous fishing season, Napaskiak, Alaska.

Panel 14
"Inner strength and integrity will make us whole again."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Left photo] Participants involved in Anchorage's National Hispanic Celebration, 9/19/1995.

[Top right photo] Athabascan Leaders (l to r) Chief Alexander of Tolovana, Chief William of Tanana, Chief Thomas of Nenana, attorney Paul William, Tanana; Chief Evan of Koschakat, Chief Charlie of Minto, Chief Alexander William of Tanana, in Fairbanks, July 1915. Chief William with his nephew, Paul William, his lawyer, fought successfully for Native voting rights in the Alaskan courts.

[Bottom right photo] Alaskan [sic] Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood, vital civil rights organizations that advocated for voting rights, land claims, and non-discrimination, are pictured at convention

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 5 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

6. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 5

held in Yakutat, Alaska.

Panel 15
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is,
what are you doing for others?"
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top left photo] John W. Thomas, civil rights advocate, was elected the first president of the Anchorage NAACP in 1951.

[Top right photo] Harry and Katsuyo Kimura, owners of H & K Laundry and the Chop Suey House, settled in Anchorage in 1914. During World War II, Mr. Kimura protested Japanese-American internment by publishing a letter to the American public in the Anchorage newspaper.

[Bottom right photo] John S. Parks initiated a drive for a public transportation system in 1971, resulting in creation of Anchorage's People Mover system. He was a proponent of beautification, increasing child care centers and enlargement of police and fire departments.

Panel 16
"The hopes of our children and the promises of
our mature years are unfinished symphonies."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Top photo] Anchorage Daily News front page announcement of Dr. King's death, 4/5/1968

[Bottom photo] In Anchorage, hundreds of children joined in a silent march and memorial service for Dr. King, 4/8/1968

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of its creed:
"We hold these truths to be self evident;
that all men are created equal."
Martin

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 6 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

7. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 6

Luther King, Jr.

Dedicated June 1998
Renovation Dedicated June 2012

Erected 1998 by Concerned Citizens and Organizations and the Municipality of Anchorage.

Topics. This historical marker and memorial is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Peace • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical date for this entry is April 5, 1968.

Location. 61° 12.792′ N, 149° 54.189′ W. Marker is in Anchorage, Alaska. It is in Downtown. It is on L Street south of 9th Avenue, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 951 L St, Anchorage AK 99501, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker and memorial is in the Alaska Railroad Corridor,

in the Athabascan Region,

in the Prince William Sound,

and in Southcentral Alaska.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Russian Empire.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 7 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

8. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 7

markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Freedom Tree (a few steps from this marker); Veterans Memorial (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Anchorage Veterans Memorial (about 400 feet away); Combat Wounded Veterans (about 500 feet away); Alaskan Roll of Honored Dead (about 500 feet away); a different marker also named Anchorage Veterans Memorial (about 600 feet away); Oscar Gill House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Commemorating the Visit of Pope John Paul II (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Anchorage.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 8 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

9. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 8

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 9 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

10. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 9

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 10 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

11. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 10

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 11 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

12. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 11

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 12 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

13. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 12

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 13 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

14. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 13

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 14 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

15. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 14

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 15 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

16. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 15

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 16 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

17. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Panel 16

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial, Panels and Bust image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

18. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial, Panels and Bust

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial Bust image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

19. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial Bust

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial Epitaph image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 12, 2024

20. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial Epitaph

Credits. This page was last revised on August 14, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 14, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 398 times since then and 91 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. submitted on August 14, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.