Existing comment:
The Martyrs
The Memorial honors 40 people who lost their lives during the struggle for civil rights between 1954 and 1968.
They range in age from 11 to 67. Eight were white, and 32 were black. Five were females, and 35 were males.
They came from all walks of life. They were students and farmers, ministers and truck drivers, a homemaker and a Nobel laureate.
Some were murdered because of their civil rights activities.
Others were killed by Klansmen to strike terror in the Movement.
Many became symbols that spurred on the struggle for social change.
"Most of those who made the Civil Rights Movement weren't the famous; they were the faceless. The weren't the noted; they were the nameless -- the unknown women and men who risked job and home and life.
Let us gather here not in recrimination, but in reconciliation, remembrance and renewed resolve."
-- Julian Bond |