on this martin Luther king day
we have a look at a new memorial
in Boston honoring after king
and his wife, grip -- caretta
Scott king.
It has been five years in the
making and the project honors
their relationship and their
dual civil rights legacy.
Reporter: In 1964, 35-year-old
martin Luther king Jr.
Celebrated his Nobel peace prize
with an embrace of his wife.
Now, another celebration based
on that moment.
The unveiling of a 20 foot tall
19 ton bronze sculpture called
"The embrace" featuring four
intertwined arms.
Ja amazi was part of the
architectural team.
>> It is very hard for me as a
daughter of Boston to maintain
composure and not bawl out.
As a young black architect are
-- educated in this city to
participate in a moment like
this are we under the black
experience, black joy and black
love.
Reporter: King had important
ties to the city attending
Boston university earning a phd
from the school of theology and
this is where he began to date
the young caretta.
The city was also a locus of his
civil rights work.
In 1965 he led a March from
rocks Perry to Boston common.
At Friday's opening ceremony,
martin Luther king the third and
his daughter, mlk's
granddaughter were among the
speakers.
>> They both loved the city
because of its crowd parroted as
a hotbed of the abolitionist
movement and its unique
intellectual and educational
resources.
And indeed Boston begin the
plays where they forged a
partnership that would change
America.
>> I love this monument.
I also see the love and strength
and unity in these hands and how
they symbolize a beautiful
marriage and partnership.
And it was one that changed the
world.
There is a sense in which we are
all children and grandchildren
of martin and caretta Scott
king.
We are all challenged to carry
forward their unfinished work.
Reporter: Earlier today I spoke
with hank Willis Thomas, the
artist who designed the
sculpture and the former head of
embrace Boston, a nonprofit
group that spearheaded the
memorial.
Thank you, both for joining us.
Hank Willis Thomas, you were
inspired by that photograph.
What did you see in it that you
wanted to bring out ?
>> When I saw the photograph on
the day he received the Nobel
prize I saw this incredible bond
and that it was not just his
celebration but there
celebration.
I saw the warmth of the hug and
the power of the embrace.
And I saw her strength literally
holding him up drew these
different trials and
tribulations and the fact that
he -- she was with him every
step of the way and carried the
legacy on after he was
assassinated.
Something I really felt needed
to be highlighted with this
work.
Reporter: Notably no faces, no
full bodies and in that sense it
is not a traditional monument.
I have seen some pushback with
people questioning the way that
you approached this.
They do think of something
different ?
>> Too much burden is placed on
Dr. King and caretta Scott king.
And I wanted to make a peace
that both acknowledged and
highlighted them but also was a
call to action, a call to love
for everyone to embrace someone
else and to honor them I
stepping into their power, their
beauty, and their message.
The embrace is as much about the
potential that exists in each
and every one of us as it is
about Dr. King and misses king.
Reporter: Often well remembered
for his work in the south and
the March on Washington but
perhaps less so for his time and
work in the north.
How important was Boston to him
?
And why is Boston honoring him
now ?
>> The wonderful thing is it
started here, right because it
was here where they met.
It is here that we have this
full love story that did not
just celebrate them love stories
that happen in the black
community and not simply in
Boston but across the nation.
And what it does is show you the
first super couple that were
able to come together not only
for a career but for love of
community and country and to
galvanize a movement and it
happened right here in Boston
and few people knew that.
And it celebrates that for us as
communities of color, lack
people that we are more than
just hours struggle.
We are love and joy.
That gets celebrated at the
center of this.
Reporter: He would have seen
that Boston of the past.
He would've experienced some of
the racial tension that existed
in the city.
What did he experience ?
How does that play into what you
see today ?
>> He saw the poverty that
existed at the time in Boston in
communities of color.
He saw the pain, the
unemployment.
He saw the lack of education
that was not equitable offered
in public schools in the city of
Boston at the time.
He saw it and wanted to do
something about it.
I do think that while it may
show up differently than it did
in the south, a lot of what was
happening in the south was more
subliminally present and he was
willing to meet with us, to dine
with us, to plan with us and
then to act.
And as you know he came back
after and led the March and
actually addressed a section of
the legislature to challenge
just to think differently about
how we approach the issues of
race in Boston.
Reporter: Hank Willis Thomas, we
are in a moment where we are
thinking a lot about how we
remember history, monuments and
memorials.
I know you have been involved in
making public sculptures before
it.
Now, you're taking on this.
How do you think about what
should be in the public ?
What we should look at and how
we should remember important
figures and history ?
>> As a society we have a
negativity bias.
It seems we only -- the things
that are horrible, the things we
have monuments to in our society
are heroes of war and victims of
word.
We don't have many monuments to
love and to the community.
And so I feel it is time in the
21st century to reconsider what
the role of public space is and
why we gather around them.
The embrace is an opportunity
for people to come together and
really reflect on the power of
any two people coming together
and embracing and the potential
that is to change society for
the better.
Reporter: This is the oldest
public space in the country and
in thinking about how we
remember our past, what is it
you want people just walking
through Boston common to take
from this ?
>> Hank has brought us such joy.
It is complex.
What I want them to understand
is that Boston belongs to all of
us.
For me, it is the embrace as
well as freedom plaza.
It is a recognition, it is
uplifting and talking about joy
and togetherness and our ability
to overcome.
And at the same time it
recognizes that we did not do it
alone.
And Dr. King, and when they were
here, they worked with the
community.
And the people he worked with
that impacted and drove change
in the city of Boston are
reflected on that comment as
well.
Dr. King and his wife were
global citizens.
Whoever walks into our city
tomorrow will be able to see
themselves, see their struggle,
joy and love right there in the
middle of America's most famous
square, the Boston common.
Reporter: Thank you both very
much.
>> Thank you.