Chicago Lawn in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

1. Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial

Inscription.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial. . , [Text on the right pillar:] , On Friday, August 5, 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And 700 other people marched into Marquette Park, confronting bigotry, demanding equal housing opportunities and challenging the neighborhood and the City of Chicago to live up to their higher ideals. They were confronted with crowds that Dr. King would later describe as more "hostile and hate-filled" than he had encountered anywhere in the south, with men, women and children hurling rocks, bottles, and racist words at him and the marchers. , , This living memorial commemorates the events of that day, the communities that fought for justice and equity before and after it, and the people , the everyday people , who live, work, struggle, love and play in communities like this one all over the country and world. It represents the courage and resilience of those who have sacrificed much to bring us a little closer to the world as it could be. It reminds us that the journey to justice should never be taken for granted and is never over. , , [Text on the left pillar:] , "I saw Catholic priests reviled and nuns spat upon. I found myself , a rabbi , standing guard like a policeman, over a pile of rocks, for fear that grown men and mothers dragging little children with them, would seize those rocks and throw them at the demonstrators. I saw teenage boys and girls ready to kill. I was on the wrong side of the street. I should have been with the marchers this afternoon.... I will join Dr. King and others who will be going back into the area. This time, I will be on the right side of the street." ,

Rabbi Robert J. Marx , Letter to the Chicago Federation Union of Hebrew Congregations , August 5, 1966

, "Who is the neighbor now? The neighbor is every nation, the neighbor is every human being, and this is what we want the message of Islam to be in these times. We want it to be the message of unity, the oneness of the human family, we want it to be a message of caring and loving."

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed , Takin' It to the Streets / Marquette Park , June 5, 2005

, "I opened my house to all of the powerful women in the movement , Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Height, Addie Wyatt... We have to teach this generation, train more Corettas, more Addies, more Dorothys."

Reverend Willie T. Barrow , , [Text in the large circular plaque in the pavement:] , "There is a gigantic and tragic wall in this city. Behind it is a triple ghetto , race, poverty, and human misery. We've got to have an action program to remove these walls." , Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Text on the right pillar:]
On Friday, August 5, 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And 700 other people marched into Marquette Park, confronting bigotry, demanding equal housing opportunities and challenging the neighborhood and the City of Chicago to live up to their higher ideals. They were confronted with crowds that Dr. King would later describe as more "hostile and hate-filled" than he had encountered anywhere in the south, with men, women and children hurling rocks, bottles, and racist words at him and the marchers.

This living memorial commemorates the events of that day, the communities that fought for justice and equity before and after it, and the people — the everyday people — who live, work, struggle, love and play in communities like this one all over the country and world. It represents the courage and resilience of those who have sacrificed much to bring us a little closer to the world as it could be. It reminds us that the journey to justice should never be taken for granted and is never over.

[Text on the left pillar:]
"I saw Catholic priests reviled and nuns spat upon. I found myself — a rabbi — standing guard like a policeman, over a pile of rocks, for fear that grown men and mothers dragging little children with them, would seize those rocks and throw them at the demonstrators. I

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saw teenage boys and girls ready to kill. I was on the wrong side of the street. I should have been with the marchers this afternoon.... I will join Dr. King and others who will be going back into the area. This time, I will be on the right side of the street."

Rabbi Robert J. Marx
Letter to the Chicago Federation Union of Hebrew Congregations
August 5, 1966

"Who is the neighbor now? The neighbor is every nation, the neighbor is every human being, and this is what we want the message of Islam to be in these times. We want it to be the message of unity, the oneness of the human family, we want it to be a message of caring and loving."

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed
Takin' It to the Streets / Marquette Park
June 5, 2005

"I opened my house to all of the powerful women in the movement — Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Height, Addie Wyatt... We have to teach this generation, train more Corettas, more Addies, more Dorothys."

Reverend Willie T. Barrow
2012

[Text in the large circular plaque in the pavement:]
"There is a gigantic and tragic wall in this city. Behind it is a triple ghetto — race, poverty, and human misery. We've got to have an action program to remove these walls."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Erected

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial pillar and text image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial pillar and text

2016 by Inner-City Muslim Action Network.

Topics and series. This historical marker and memorial is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Religion & Religious Structures • Women. In addition, it is included in the Martin Luther King, Jr. series list. A significant historical date for this entry is August 5, 1966.

Location. 41° 46.287′ N, 87° 42.206′ W. Marker is in Chicago, Illinois, in Cook County. It is in Chicago Lawn. It is at the intersection of West Marquette Road and South Kedzie Avenue, on the right when traveling east on West Marquette Road. The memorial is on the north end of Marquette Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Chicago IL 60629, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker and memorial is in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: The MLK Living Memorial (a few steps from this marker); Marquette Park World War I Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); Darius and Girenas Memorial (approx. half a mile away); Our Lady of Fatima (approx. ¾ mile away); St. Bakhita (approx. ¾ mile away); (Former) Marquette Park State Bank (approx. 1.1 miles away); Thomas J. Stack (approx. 1½ miles away); 9/11 Memorial (approx. 1.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chicago.

More about this marker. Chicago Lawn is one of 77 official community areas in Chicago. However,

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

3. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial pillar and text

it is often known as Marquette Park, for this 323-acre park at the center of the community.

A separate plaque on the fence just south of this memorial offers a little of the history of this memorial, erected in 2016.

Regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial. The Chicago Lawn neighborhood, known by locals as Marquette Park (after its main feature), has long been a flashpoint for race relations in Chicago. Largely developed in the 1920s, the area remained almost completely white into the 1960s, home to ethnic Irish, Germans and Lithuanians, many of whom had moved out of other south-side neighborhoods. Discrimination by real estate agents and banks kept many Blacks from moving into this neighborhood for many years, creating racial tensions that simmered even as the neighborhood slowly diversified (by 1990, Chicago Lawn was only roughly 40 percent white). Notable civil rights protests and counterprotests occurred both in 1966 and again in 1976-77. In the late 1980s, the KKK held protests here. The Marquette Park neighborhood was also the home of a white supremacist group called the National Socialist Party of America.

This particular memorial was dedicated in honor of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's attempted march through this neighborhood on August 5, 1966. Dr. King had come to Chicago in early 1966

Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial plaque in sidewalk image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial plaque in sidewalk

as part of what was dubbed the Chicago Freedom Movement, an attempt to place the spotlight on segregated housing policies in a northern city. A week prior to his march, on July 31, civil rights protestors came to the area and were met by white opposition, who threw debris and burned cars. A week later, Dr. King himself came to the neighborhood with roughly 700 protestors, intending to march to a real estate office on 63rd Street (four blocks north of the park). However, they were greeted almost immediately by white counter-protestors who shouted racial slurs and threw debris at them; Dr. King himself was hit on the head by a rock.

Also see . . .
1. Time: The Surprising Story Behind This Shocking Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. Under Attack.

Excerpt: “On Aug. 5, 1966, in Marquette Park, where King was planning to lead a march to a realtor’s office to demand properties be sold to everyone regardless of their race, he got swarmed by about 700 white protesters hurling bricks, bottles and rocks. One of those rocks hit King, and his aides rushed to shield him, as the photo shows.

“'The blow knocked King to one knee and he thrust out an arm to break the fall,' the Chicago Tribune reported at the time. 'He remained in this kneeling position, head bent, for a few seconds until his head cleared.'”

“Afterward, King told reporters, 'I’ve been in many demonstrations all
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

5. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial
One of the sculptures on the memorial
across the South, but I can say that I have never seen, even in Mississippi and Alabama, mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as I’m seeing in Chicago.'”

(Submitted on October 1, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. Chicago magazine: When Martin Luther King Lived in Chicago.

Subhead: "Fifty-five years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. rented an apartment on the West Side. He would leave not quite a year later, having learned a frustrating lesson: He could expose the city’s gaping racial wounds, but he could not heal them."

(Submitted on October 1, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

3. MLK Living Memorial official site. (Submitted on October 1, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

View of the memorial from Kedzie Ave. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, October 1, 2025

6. View of the memorial from Kedzie Ave.

Martin Luther King, Jr. at Soldier Field (1966) image. Click for full size.

Chicago Urban League Records, courtesy of University of Illinois at Chicago, Special Collections, July 10, 1966

7. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Soldier Field (1966)

Martin Luther King Jr., seated in the convertible, waves to a large crowd at the Chicago Freedom Movement Rally at Soldier Field. About 4 weeks later he made his ill-fated visit to the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, where the living memorial now sits.

Credits. This page was last revised on March 16, 2026. It was originally submitted on October 1, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 72 times since then and 32 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on October 1, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 7. submitted on March 16, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.