Free Essay

Modern Cultural Artifact

In: Other Topics

Submitted By msgerron
Words 763
Pages 4
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C
Donna M. Gerron
American InterContinental University

Abstract
It was a very hard decision deciding on which artifact to write about. It was a choice between the King Center in Atlanta Georgia and the King Memorial in Washington. The King Center has a wealth of information about Dr. King and his fight for nonviolent solutions for African Americans to be considered equal among all men. This paper is about the newest addition to the King legacy, King Memorial Monument in Washington D.C.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C
For this week’s IP we were to write about a modern day cultural artifact that best represents the culture we live in today. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a brilliant man who stood up to fight for equality for African Americans in this country. Cultural Background
Most people are already aware of who Dr. King was and what he stood for. His legacy will forever affect our society. Because without him we would not have an African American president, Blacks will probably still be treated as though they are second class citizens. Dr. King arranged marches, boycotts, and sit-ins. Even though he and his followers were often met with violence he continued to not lift a finger in anger towards anyone. Unfortunately some people still do think they was they did in the 60’s because they were taught that way of thinking by their parents or grandparents. Dr. King paved the way for Blacks to have the rights and freedoms of other men and he lost his life fighting for what he believed in.

Making of a Memorial
Dr. King was first recognized by the making of his birthday a legal holiday to be celebrated throughout the country. This was started by Rep. John Conyers and was proposed in every legislative session from 1968 until 1983 when it was made a bill. The first legal holiday representing his birthday did not occur until January 20, 1986. In January 1984 four brothers Alfred Bailey, Oscar Little, Eddie Madison and John Harvey of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity proposed building a national memorial to Dr. King and it was presented at the Fraternity’s Board of Director’s meeting under the administration of General President Ozell Sutton. In 1996 President Clinton signs legislation proposing the establishment of a memorial in the District of Columbia to honor Dr. King. Planning for the monument slowly progressed over the years until it became a reality.

King Memorial Monument
Dr. King is well known as an eloquent speaker and for his speeches such as his “Have a Dream” speech. His speeches and sermons touched the lives, heart and spirit of those who were fortunate to hear him. The monument in sits on a 4 acre site in the National Mall near the Roosevelt memorial, the address of the memorial is 1964 Independence Ave, SW Washington, DC 20024. The street number is in reference to the Civil Right’s Act of 1964 which is pretty cool because Dr. King place a large role in the act being put into place.
Inscribed on the memorial there are quotes from some of Dr. King’s speeches, one inscription says: "There are two types of laws: there are just laws and there are unjust laws...What is the difference between the two?...An unjust law is a man-made code that is out of harmony with the moral law...Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Isn't segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, an expression of his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness?" – Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963 In conclusion
This is a site that will be around for generations to come. This monument represents a great man and the great things he did for this country. As the new generations come along and learn about our past, this statue will be there for them to visit, to see, feel and learn from. This writer hopes to visit it one day as she did the King Center in Atlanta and Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
It is said that the memorial invokes the memory and spiritual presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr through the visual experience of place, reinforced by the full range of sensory perception, and metaphorical use of water, stone and other landscape elements. The powerful display of passages from his sermons and speeches and the appearance of his physical image in the “Stone of Hope”

References:
http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1187203/k.8826/The_Memorial.htm

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Pm3110 Unit 2 Project

... 1. What project did you do for you second project? Since we had just finished our second project, I thought that it would be interesting to learn what projects that everyone did and to see how it went. The Fasting project was done by one group member and two other group members did Sabbath project and I did the Service project. We talked about thing that we liked about the project and things that we did not like about the projects. The two members that did the Sabbath project both said that they enjoyed their projects, although they did find it a tiny bit frustrating that during the times that they were trying to commit to their time of Sabbath that was the times that they we most motivated to do homework. The group member that participated in the fasting project said that it was a hard project to stay committed to simply because as a college student you eat when you get a chance or it convenient to eat. I did not find the Service project hard at all simply because I have many opportunities to serve certain people in my life. 2. Did you learn anything about yourself from your project? I, also thought it would be interesting to talk about what we leaned about ourselves as we did our projects. The two group members that participated in the Sabbath projects said that they both learned that we live very busy lives but that some of the busyness that was in their lives was not necessary. They found that it was possible to get all of the things that the y really need to do done...

Words: 695 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Kevin Jennings' "American Dreams"

... 9/25/13 Dev. Writing II Ms. Harper Kevin Jennings’ American Dreams In Kevin Jennings' American Dream, he talks about some of the major cultural artifacts in his life that made his own social identity. While growing up in rural community in Lewisville, North Carolina, Kevin Jennings and his mother wanted what most people wanted in the 60s, the American Dream. One of the first cultural artifacts that affect Kevin Jennings was his father and his father’s ministry. He was brought up as a Southern Baptist and right from the beginning he was taught in his father’s sermons that, “gay people were twisted perverts destined for a lifetime of eternal damnation.” He knew from a very young age of six or seven that he was gay and that because of his upbringings and his father that he needed to hide his difference and pretend to be wheat he thought was “normal”. This trend of Kevin Jennings pretending to be “normal” followed him in to high school. He graduated from Radford High in 1981, which is another cultural artifact that shaped his social identity. While in high school he again tried to do what he thought was normal. He tried to date every girl he could get his hands on. Jennings said, that these actions were “earning a well-deserved reputation as a jerk who tried to see how far he could get on the first date.” He also...

Words: 594 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Kennell F Week 5 Ip

...language you have chosen and preview the points you will be making in the paper. The Artifact I Have Chosen That Best Represents the Culture I Live In Today Write your response to this element here. Remember to include in-text citations at the end of every paragraph in which you refer to information from any source, i.e., (Burnette, 2013). Please refer to the APA Guide found under Instructor Guide > Course Overview, Course Materials > APA Guidelines for correct formatting of in-text citation. A Description and Analysis of How (your chosen artifact) Relates to the Values and Beliefs of My Culture Write your response to this element here. Remember to include in-text citations at the end of every paragraph in which you refer to information from any source, i.e., (Burnette, 2013). Please refer to the APA Guide found under Instructor Guide > Course Overview, Course Materials > APA Guidelines for correct formatting of in-text citation. The Cultural Roots of (your chosen artifact) Write your response to this element here. Remember to include in-text citations at the end of every paragraph in which you refer to information from any source, i.e., (Burnette, 2013). Please refer to the APA Guide found under Instructor Guide > Course Overview, Course Materials > APA Guidelines for correct formatting of in-text citation. The Historical Roots That Allowed (your chosen artifact) To Come Into Being Write your response to this element here. Remember to include in-text...

Words: 791 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Artifact from 2011

...A hundred years from now the world will look at what was left behind from 2011 and wonder what life was like. In scientific studies a cultural artifact is an item produced by humans that furnishes cultural clues about the people who used it. Over time the artifact may change in how it is seen and used. The cell phone as a cultural artifact has come to improve and change various established types of contact in today’s culture (Nielson, 2010). Today the world uses technology in almost everything that it does. Many different types of scholars have advocated the study of technologies as artifacts (Sterne, 2006). The cell phone will be a cultural artifact in its own right. No modern cultural artifact personifies the intellect and the disquieting overindulgence of capitalism as noticeably as the cell phone (Rauch, 2005). It is an item that people work on and the cell phone also works for them. It is used to socialize, idolize, and has many advanced technologies that are used and preformed on them. Consider it a result of social and technical processes. In many urbanized societies like the United States and the rest of the Americas, Europe, and Asia, the cell phone has developed into a scientific experiment or a haven for taxing the confines of technological union. It almost seems a shame to call it a telephone today because it is so much more than that. It can be used as a computer, a gaming tool, still cameras, video cameras, email systems, text messengers, carrier of business data...

Words: 1491 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Mobiel Phone

...A hundred years from now the world will look at what was left behind from 2011 and wonder what life was like. In scientific studies a cultural artifact is an item produced by humans that furnishes cultural clues about the people who used it. Over time the artifact may change in how it is seen and used. The cell phone as a cultural artifact has come to improve and change various established types of contact in today’s culture (Nielson, 2010). Today the world uses technology in almost everything that it does. Many different types of scholars have advocated the study of technologies as artifacts (Sterne, 2006). The cell phone will be a cultural artifact in its own right. No modern cultural artifact personifies the intellect and the disquieting overindulgence of capitalism as noticeably as the cell phone (Rauch, 2005). It is an item that people work on and the cell phone also works for them. It is used to socialize, idolize, and has many advanced technologies that are used and preformed on them. Consider it a result of social and technical processes. In many urbanized societies like the United States and the rest of the Americas, Europe, and Asia, the cell phone has developed into a scientific experiment or a haven for taxing the confines of technological union. It almost seems a shame to call it a telephone today because it is so much more than that. It can be used as a computer, a gaming tool, still cameras, video cameras, email systems, text messengers, carrier of business...

Words: 332 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Cultural Studies

...Cultural Artifact Palwasha khan AIU Online   Cultural Artifact A cultural artifact is a man-made object which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. The artifact may change over time in what it represents, how it appears and how and why it is used as the culture changes over time. This can also be seen in bio facts. A bio fact represents biotechnological changes in a living entity, according to cultural visions. It is the term which is used in the social sciences, particularly ethnology, anthropology, and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. For example, in an anthropological context, a 17th century lathes, a piece of faience or a television each provide a wealth of information about the time in which they were manufactured and used. Cultural artifact provides information about the technological processes, economy and social makeup and a host of other subjects. We live among cultural artifacts that have deep roots. Computers There are many inventors that contributed in the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of various parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention. The first freely programmable computer was invented by ‘Konrad Zuse’ in 1936. Later different inventors made various inventions throughout the history. First in 1600’s only calculating machines were invented. It had a great impact on computing. The ‘abacus’...

Words: 1800 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Cultural Studies in Media

...What is the Value of Cultural Studies? Why is it relevant on a media/ communications programme? Firstly what is cultural studies? Cultural studies is devoted to understanding how a society creates and shares meaning. So, cultural studies searches to understand how meaning is brought about, constructed and dispersed throughout all social structures, practices, beliefs within each certain culture. It is important to remember that cultural studies is a holistic analysis, taking the social whole into consideration, including and combining every known theory from political theory, feminist theory, social theory, media theory and so on. ‘This approach analyses culture in order to understand the lives, experiences, consciousness, values and struggles of particular groups in society’[i] There are a number of important concepts when it comes to cultural studies. Society creates meaning for everything that exists. All of these meanings are constructed; therefore they are only perceptions of reality. our understanding of meaning and view of the world has been created by the society in which we are surrounded in, brought up in and bred in. who plays the major role in all of this, who makes meaning out of what we see and learn? Is it the man on the side of the road who believes god is real, because he came from a religious background? Or is it the politician that we all elected and trust will tell us what’s right and wrong, and what really means what. Culture then goes on to...

Words: 1650 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

El Paso History Museum

...explore virtually all around and every area of El Paso. I found those TVs really amazing since you can touch any artifact, person or building area and it gives you a brief history and pictures of it. It also gives you the opportunity to email yourself of or a friend or yourself about the items selected. Once entering the premises of the museum there you will sign in with the hostess were they will ask you for your name and zip code. No fee is required for the tour the entrance is free and only a small box for donations is at the main entrance. The hostess will give you a brief explanation of expect and what you may do or not do while during the tour. She will let you know that you may take pictures without flash and only certain labeled items may be touched. In the first floor to the room to the left of the entrance there is not much variety of artifacts. In my tour there was a display of India (mid-eastern) culture which included home styles, wedding outfits, statues of their culture believes and pictures of the buildings in that country. The following room in the first floor there was a display of the E.P.F.D. which included outdated equipment used in 1900s of fire hydrants and fire trucks. The also had a actual 1920s fire truck and a replica of a more modern fire truck in which I was able to climb in and get a more less experience of how it is inside one of the modern trucks. Clothing, equipment, old school fire hydrants and fire hoses were also in display in this room. The...

Words: 872 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Archaeological Survey

...site we found artifacts clustered together in 5 different clusters. In the cluster of squares 7B,C we found the most artifacts of all the clusters with a total of 110 artifacts from the two squares. We found almost a hundred thin small shards of either rock or pottery. The pieces had unnaturally sharp edges that must have been man made, most likely by chipping off edges with another rock. These pieces could have been used either as scrappers, arrowheads, small axes or for the heads of small spears. The geometric shapes of the small rocks indicate the microburin technique may have been used to create these geometric microliths. Squares 9-10,A contained 12 small shards of rocks. They were mainly bifacial tools most likely made from pressure flaking judging by the sharpness. Most of the shards were made from rock, bone and pottery. There were also 2 pieces I was unsure what they were made of. They appeared to have possibly been made of mud, clay or maybe coal. The pieces of bone indicate possible hunting along with the many sharp artifacts that may have been used as weapons. We also found 1 isolated square that contained 2 artifacts, 1 oval and 1 spherical rock. The rocks are too smooth to not have been altered. They were both very worn down, possibly from being used as a food grinder or maybe a hammer due to the physical wear they had both received. It doesn’t seem to be from natural formation. Because these two stones were found so far from the other artifacts they may have...

Words: 2008 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Archaeology

...Chapter 1/Lesson 1 Key Terms: archaeology   | The study of the human past, combining the themes of time and change. | culture   | A uniquely human means of nonbiological adaptation; a repertoire of learned behaviors for coping with the physical and social environments | artifact   | Any object or item created or modified by human action. | evolution   | The process of change over time resulting from shifting conditions of the physical and cultural environments, involving mechanisms of mutation and natural selection. | fieldwork   | The search for archaeological sites in the landscape through surveys and excavations. | site   | The accumulation of artifacts and/or ecofacts, representing a place where people lived or carried out certain activities | survey   | A systematic search of the landscape for artifacts and sites on the ground through aerial photography, field walking, soil analysis, and geophysical prospecting. | shell midden   | A mound of shells accumulated from human collection, consumption, and disposal; a dump of shells from oysters, clams, mussels, or other species found along coasts and rivers, usually dating to the Holocene. | excavation   | The exposure and recording of buried materials from the past. | ethnography   | The study of human cultures through firsthand observation. | economy   | The management and organization of the affairs of a group, community, or establishment to ensure their survival and productivity. | technology   |...

Words: 1553 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Classifactory-Historical Era

...Assignment 1 1. Classifactory-Historical period: The field of archaeology had very crude beginnings with antiquarians - rich people cavorting around the world searching for artifacts they deemed as valuable, while usually destroying other important artifacts. There was no interest in the context or history of the people, the only concern was finding objects of value. In the mid-nineteenth century the approach to archaeology began to shift towards the development and study of chronologies, igniting what is known as the Classifactory-Historical period of archaeology - an archaeological paradigm that would last until the 1960s.This shift in focus was largely due in part to the acceptance of the antiquity of humankind, the concept of evolution,...

Words: 1629 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Synthesis Essay Museum

...Museums are a perfect way to represent what history has unfolded for the public’s eye. Consideration needs to be made when a person is “shopping” for fragments of history such as arts or artifacts. A main consideration is profit. However, there are consequences if the museums does not make enough money. Maybe due to the fact that people are not interested in taking tours throughout the museums anymore because museums have really old artifacts and the new age of technology is taking over, so viewing his or her cell phone might be better than witnessing how life was like back in the 1700’s or the 1800’s. What happens after the museums cannot keep their wonderful art? The art perhaps gets auctioned off to a wealthy person, and they possibly leave it in...

Words: 935 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Kumeyaay People of California

...start a permanent museum. As a result, the collection was named Museum of Man in 1942 and later in 1978 as the California Museum of Man. Besides housing the history of the Kumeyaay people, who are the subject of this research paper, the history of other Native Americans from the South of California can also be studied in this place. The museum has a population of over 100000 ethnographic items, 25000 images, and a large library of books and journals. MUSEUM EXHIBIT 1) Artifact Display On the second floor of the museum, a wide variety of the historic sources can be found. Among the displayed artifacts there are models of the early man, reconstructions of the bones of hominids, cave paintings, coffins of mummies from ancient Egypt, stone carvings, and remains of the Egyptian mummy known as Lemon Grove. The culture of the people of China, Egypt and the Kumeyaay people are dominant. Their traditions and way of life are represented by the paintings, jewelry, pottery, and other tools. 2) Exhibit Content The artifacts reveal peculiarities of the life of the ancient California inhabitants. In this section, featured are the ways of food gathering, pot making and pottery, art and basket making, ancient medicine, dress...

Words: 2380 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Cultural Studies Ip5

...Abstract In this final project of Topics in Cultural studies; I hope to expound on the creation of an artifact that is in its very infancy as artifacts are dated. This is one of Dr. Martin Luther King Father, Husband, Minster, Civil Rights Leader and overall Good Man and the Roman type of granite monument that had been built in his honor in Washington D.C this nation Capital. I will talk about The Monument where it’s located and what it looks like, “The Cultural Background” by which all things started from the gathering of slaves and the effects on a descendant of Africa after European influences more than 400, to their freedom from slavery, to the civil rights movement of which Dr. King emerges. From here I will move to “The Man” Dr. Martian Luther King? Here we have “The Legacy” who was this civil rights leader and what did he do to advance this new metamorphoses in culture after the assimilation of Western cultures within the United States of people of African lineage. The Monument My modern cultural artifact is the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial located on the National Mall near the Tidal Basin and the Roosevelt memorial. It has an iconic address of 1964 Independence Ave, SW Washington, DC 20024. The street number represents the Civil Rights Act of 1964 of which Dr. King played a large role in the legislation being passed and put into place. Here stands a 3 piece artifact of Dr. King, this statue is 30-foot tall and is carved from a piece of granite that symbolizes...

Words: 1271 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

A Significant Aspect of Culture of Australia

...t (Harvard) Title: Cultural heritage in Australia Introduction Cultural heritage is described as a legacy of either tangible or intangible aspects of a people group. The tangible aspects may consist of artifacts, buildings, food or places. The intangible aspects may include spiritual beliefs, traditions and oral literature. A need to preserve these heritages has been called for from different quarters as a way to preserve a people’s history. UNESCO has been on the forefront to champion for this preservation. The original inhabitants of the present day Australia were the aboriginal Australians. The exact origin of these people groups has been a subject of many discussions in the modern times. Some theories have gone ahead to suggest that these people shared an origin with south Asians or Africans. A 2009 genetic study in India found similarities among Indian archaic populations and Aboriginal people, indicating a Southern migration route, with expanding populations from Southeast Asia migrating to Indonesia and Australia”(Department of Natural Resources and Mines, 2005:21). These original Australians had a rich tradition which included music and dancing. Folk music and dances were very central in the day to day lives. In order to make song more enjoyable and danceable they employed several musical instruments. These instruments ranged from percussion to wind instrument. There was a percussion instrument called the clap sticks and was commonly used by these people but for...

Words: 1728 - Pages: 7