The Embrace

African American life in the U.S. is primarily depicted as a struggle devoid of romantic love rather than a radical act of living, liberation, and loving families. Under the tyranny of colonization, slavery, Jim Crow, and simple everyday life, how do we have time for love?

In the two years since “The Embrace” was unveiled, Elizabeth Tiblanc has watched the sculpture come to mean so many different things to different people.

This weekend marks the first anniversary of the unveiling of the sculpture “The Embrace,” by artist Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group.

“The Embrace,” a sculptural monument by artist Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, brings a new and dynamic piece of public art to Boston’s portfolio of straightforward statues.

A striking monument to the love of civil rights icons Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — years in the making — was unveiled on the Boston Common last Friday during a landmark event celebrating the full history and culture of Black Boston.

Boston shares a distinction with Montgomery, Alabama; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Atlanta, Georgia. They are the only places the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King lived for any length of time during his 39 years on earth. Yet, unlike these other cities that King once called home — and many other major U.S. cities — Boston has until now had no major monument to the slain civil rights leader.

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful civil rights legacy at these events happening in Boston this weekend.

Although he was a son of Georgia, Dr. King spent many of his adult years in Boston. It is appropriate to create a monument here in commemoration of King’s great sacrifice and benefaction for the attainment of human solidarity in the City on a Hill.