Activist's words chiseled into historic stone

WASHINGTON -- Four decades after Martin Luther King Jr.'s demand for equality stirred a nation, civil rights activists commemorated his "I Have a Dream" speech Friday by celebrating the inscription of those words on the monument where his call rang out.

His widow, Coretta Scott King, stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as officials uncovered the words chiseled into the granite of a landing. "The inscription adds a sense of wholeness to this spot," she said.

About 1,000 people came in stifling heat to begin two days of observances tied to the coming 40th anniversary of the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Organizers also put together a prayer vigil and poetry jam on the eve of a rally today.

At the vigil, a children's hip-hop choir performed and religious leaders against skies flashed through with lightning. The stormy weather brought attendance down to roughly 250.

It was on those granite steps -- on a hot summer day before a crowd of about 250,000 -- that King delivered his historic call for justice.

"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,"' he said.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

One of those children, Martin Luther King III, now 45, said those words are far from forgotten. "I do think people remember because they resonate so clearly," he said in an interview.

King said the appeal his father made so many years ago has not yet been fully embraced.

"Components of the dream have been realized, but the entire vision of freedom, justice and equality for all humankind has not," he said.

The inscription, over 2 feet wide, reads:

"I have a dream

Martin Luther King Jr.

The March on Washington

For jobs and freedom

August 28, 1963."

Family members will join others at a series of teach-ins today, followed by a rally at the spot where King spoke to the throngs lined up along both sides of the Reflecting Pool.

Diverse interests will be represented in speeches at the rally -- labor, women, gay rights, AIDS and the environment among them.

Speakers will include Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who attended the 1963 march; and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who helped organize it.

"Dr. King's words not only freed a people but an entire nation," Lewis said Friday.

Martin Luther King III said a special effort was made this year to reach out to the younger generation of 20 to 30 year olds.

"We're very proud to be able to bring the 'sit-in' generation along with the hip hop generation, working together to continue to create change in our nation," he said.

National Park Service officials estimated the crowd Friday at 1,000 and said initial plans projected a turnout of about 10,000 Saturday.

Organizers credited Thomas Williams of Louisville, Ky., with coming up with the idea of permanently embedding King's words on the memorial when he visited Washington with his wife in 1997.

"I looked for the spot where Martin Luther King stood and I couldn't find it," he said Friday, back in Washington to see his wish come true. Williams wrote to his member of Congress, Republican Anne Northrup, and she pushed legislation providing for the inscription.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress, was a law student in 1963 who helped organize the march. She remembered his speech for its pragmatism as much as its poetry.

"His words were not art for art's sake," she said. "He was trying to win converts."