In honor and in celebration of the birth of Coretta Scott King, a new monument was unveiled at the King Center in Atlanta. The monument was presented by Hulu’s “Made by Her Monuments,” a series of monuments to bridge the gender gap in public art by honoring women of historical significance.
The event featured keynote speeches from Dr. Bernice King (CEO, The King Center); Saya Woolfalk(Visual Artist); and Vivi Nguyen (Director of Creative Operations & Culture, Hulu).
“This really reflects the essence of who she was as a person and it’s very touching for me,” Dr. Bernice King said. “It’s still unbelievable that she’s not here. But she’s here because she stepped on this ground so often. She deposited so much in this world from these grounds. And so her spirit was emanating from this place. I know what she sacrificed. We know what she sacrificed her offspring, her children. What she gave us was so much that people don’t even know what she had to fight through. She was so determined and focus, that she didn’t let anything stop her.”
Woolfalk, the visual artist who created the monument, shared her inspiration in creating the piece.
“I wanted to channel the energy for people who came to the site,” Woolfalk said. “I wanted people to be able to speak their own words and comments about civil rights and non-violence. So there’s a live microphone inside of the sculpture itself. And I really hope you all use that microphone, because it’ll amplify your voices. And in closing, I just want to say when you’re inside of the monument, you’re surrounded by her words. And those words are, ‘Women, If the soul of a nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”
Nguyen shed light on why it was important for Hulu to honor King and other legendary women with the “Made by Her Monuments” series.
“Several years ago, our team at Hulu discovered that less than 8% of all public statues in the U.S. are women,” Nguyen said. “They’re more monuments of men and dogs than there are women. We knew we had to do something to make a permanent change in any way that we could. We commissioned three new public monuments representing the contributions of historic women, journalist and conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas; Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and legendary activist and human civil human rights leader Coretta Scott King. And we did this in an effort to help bridge the gender gap in public art. We could not be more thrilled to see the results of these collaborations come to life and to share it with you all here with the city of Atlanta.”
Featured image: Dr. Bernice King, Yolanda Renee King, Martin Luther King III
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