INSPIRE
PROJECT D E TA I L S
IN MEMORIAM
Project value $1.8m Sculpture $700,000 Build time Oct 2017 to April 2018 Size of project .6 acre
J O H N JAC KSO N I I I , O F J PA I N C AND CLIFF GARTEN STUDIO
A MEMPHIS PLAZA HONORS 1,300 SANITATION WORKERS AND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.’S FINAL CAUSE
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owerful words, “I AM A MAN,” are the centerpiece of a new plaza in Memphis. Derived from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the slogan held special meaning during the Sanitation Workers Strike of 1968 in the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement. In February of that year, two African-American garbage collectors in Memphis were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. This final straw in a litany of neglect and abuse within the city department impelled 1,300 black men to walk off the job. Their protest for better working conditions drew the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who came to Memphis to support the strikers. On April 3, he delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” speech. The next day, he was assassinated. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Sanitation Workers Strike and Dr. King’s
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death, the City of Memphis brought together a dynamic team to build a public plaza. “The mayor of Memphis had the forethought to bring on an African-American
JOHN JACKSON III
landscape architect for the work, and we were honored to be selected,” says John Jackson III, of JPA Inc. “We worked closely with Venice, California artist and sub-consultant Cliff Garten, who developed the I AM A MAN sculpture and conceptual site plan.”
The plaza was constructed next to Clayborn Temple, a rallying site in the protest and a half-mile from the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the site where King was shot. At its center is Cliff’s 12-foot sculpture with the slogan “I AM A MAN.” Laser cut into the giant block letters is the text of King’s “Mountaintop” speech. “I struggled with what form the sculpture would take, and I realized the strikers had already made the sculpture through their words,” says Cliff, whose design was selected from an international competition. “You also had Dr. King’s very radical speech about corporations, the American government and the Vietnam War that is still relevant today.” Cliff designed his sculpture with two sides, one bronze, the other stainless steel. “When you look into the text and read it, you
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