Lincoln Memorial

Henry Bacon's temple was finished in 1922 on reclaimed Potomac swampland, with Daniel Chester French's 19-foot seated Lincoln carved from Georgia marble by the Piccirilli brothers; the 36 exterior columns are the states at Lincoln's death. The dedication itself was segregated, with Black attendees seated apart. In 1939 Marian Anderson sang on the steps to 75,000 people after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her Constitution Hall. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered "I Have a Dream" from these steps to about 250,000 people; the spot, eighteen steps down from the chamber, is now engraved in the stone.

Source: National Park Service, Lincoln Memorial construction, architecture, statue and dedication histories (1922); National Park Service and Library of Congress, histories of Marian Anderson's Lincoln Memorial concert (1939); National Park Service, March on Washington history (1963) and documentation of the King speech inscription (2003)