I Am A Man Plaza
I AM A MAN PLAZA
Memphis, TN, United States
ARCHITECTS
Cliff Garten Studio
METAL ARTS FOUNDRY
Fabrication And Installation Of I Am A Man Sculpture
CITY OF MEMPHIS
Felicia Harris
QUARRA STONE COMPANY
Fabrication Of Marble And Granite
LEAD DESIGNER
Cliff Garten
WHITNEY ANDERSON BUILDING GROUP, LLC
Masonry
PRECISE CONTRACTING
General Contractor
POET AND SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
Steve Fox
PATRELL ENGINEERING GROUP, INC
Engineer
POET AND SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
Troy L. Wiggins
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT OF RECORD
John Jackson
URBAN ART COMMISSION
Lauren Kennedy
YEAR
2018
LOCATION
Memphis, TN, United States
CATEGORY
Cultural › Memorial
In this important new American Civil Rights Memorial, sculpture and poetry combine to create an interactive and educational experience inspiring future generations to stand up for social justice and positive change.
I AM A MAN Plaza is a large-scale landscape sculpture commissioned to honor the members of the pivotal 1968 Sanitation Workers’ Strike and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A focal point of the Civil Rights Movement, the strike brought Dr. King to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the Strikers, when he was assassinated.
The strike and its I Am a Man slogan came to represent the struggle of the working poor for racial equality in Memphis and beyond.
The artist led a design team and held an open dialogue with the greater Memphis community, who through a series of public workshops selected pertinent historical text and created an original text which is etched into the marble gates defining the Plaza’s entry.
The Strike’s timeline of events is carved into a large elliptical granite paving ring and their 1,300 names are etched into the Memorial wall framing the lawn and central plaza.
The 12-feet-tall I AM A MAN sculptural block letters at the center of the memorial plaza are built of bronze on one side of the sculpture and mirror-polished stainless steel on the other side reflecting the dialectical struggle for equality.
The block letters are laser cut with the text from Dr. King’s last speech in Memphis.
The combination of text and sculpture is a meditation on America’s struggle and progress with racism and class inequity since the Sanitation Workers and Dr. Martin Luther King took their historic stand in Memphis.
I AM A MAN Plaza provides visitors a continuing point of reflection and inspiration on the events of 1968 within this National Historic Landmark site
