<P> The relief of King is intended to give the impression that he is looking over the Tidal Basin toward the horizon, and that the cherry trees that "adorn the site" will bloom every year during the anniversary of King's death . </P> <P> This memorial is not the first in Washington, D.C., to honor an African American, as one already exists for Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of the National Council of Negro Women, who also served as an unofficial advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt . A 17 feet (5.2 m) - tall bronze statue of her is located in Lincoln Park, East Capitol St. and 12th St., NE . The King Memorial is the first memorial to an African American on or near the National Mall . </P> <P> The memorial is the fourth that commemorates a non-United States president that is located on or near the National Mall . The others include the George Mason Memorial, honoring George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (the basis for the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights), near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial; the John Ericsson Memorial, erected to honor John Ericsson, the Swedish - born engineer and inventor who designed the USS Monitor during the Civil War; and the John Paul Jones Memorial, erected in 1912 near the Tidal Basin in memory of John Paul Jones, the Scottish - born American naval hero who served during the American Revolution . </P> <P> Fourteen quotes from King's speeches, sermons, and writings are inscribed on the Inscription Wall . The "Council of Historians" created to choose the quotations included Maya Angelou, Lerone Bennett, Clayborne Carson, Henry Louis Gates, Marianne Williamson and others, though the memorial's executive architect stated that Maya Angelou did not attend the meetings at which the quotations were selected . According to the official National Park Service brochure for the Memorial, the inscriptions that were chosen "stress four primary messages of Dr. King: justice, democracy, hope, and love ." </P>

From a mountain of despair a stone of hope