A groundbreaking ceremony will be held today for the new Martin Luther King Jr. monuments in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.
The event will feature guest speakers and special guests, including co-founders of the Unified Civic Monuments Project, Sharon and Emanuel Brown. Artist David Alan Clark and Harold Woodridge will design bronze sculptures and surrounding interactive elements, which will feature Dr. King inspiring a hopeful youth in unity and fairness.
Clark told us more.
“This juncture in our lives, to be able to work together, hopefully make the communities and the larger world a better place and start a better dialogue between the two cities, and having been a part of that is is just very personally rewarding,” Clark said.
The event today will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the site of the Benton Harbor monument, Dwight P Mitchell City park. After the Benton Harbor ceremony, attendees will board buses to the St. Joseph site, in the Margaret Upton Arboretum along the St. Joseph River.
“This seemed to be a wonderful opportunity to collaborate on a commission that had very noble social justice and helping the two cities get a little closer together.”
The monuments are planned to be unveiled in the fall of this year.
The cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, along with the BH/SJ Arts and Cultural Social Justice say they’re looking forward to today’s event, as its been in the works since 2020.
