At the far west end of the Mall, the Lincoln Memorial is modeled on a Doric temple, enclosed by a colonnade and fronted by a long reflecting pool. During the Civil Rights march on Washington in 1963, Dr King delivered his epic "I Have a Dream" speech here. Ironically, when this monument to the Great Emancipator was dedicated in 1922, the crowds were segregated by color - even black leader Dr Robert Moton, who gave an address, was forced to watch from a roped-off area to the side.
The Lincoln Memorial is a fitting tribute to the man who put down the southern rebellion during the Civil War and thereby preserved the Union and ended slavery in the US. A craggy likeness of Abraham Lincoln sits firmly grasping the arms of his throne-like chair, apparently deep in thought, while inscriptions of Lincoln's two most celebrated speeches - the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address - are carved on the north and south walls
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