Group Hopes to Get MLK Memorial Started this Summer

A group working on a memorial to the late Martin Luther King, Jr. is hoping to get the project going some time this summer.

Simsbury High School senior Grace Angus, student co-chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr. in Connecticut Memorial Project, told selectmen Monday night that the group has raised $60,000 of the $110,000 for the project. 

“We’re really excited about the progress,” she said, adding that students are looking for help from the town and residents to reach their goal.

The memorial, planned for the corner of Hopmeadow St. and Phelps Lane, will include an inscribed bench as well as five glass panels representing periods of King’s life, including time spent in Simsbury as a youth.

Angus said there are many ways people can help, including making donations or by purchasing $100 brick pavers. 

The project started when SHS students produced a documentary about King’s time spent working in tobacco fields as a youth and how experience, especially experiencing desegregation, affected the rest of his life.

The film debuted in January of 2011 and from there the project grew. The Simsbury Historical Society and the Simsbury Free Library are cosponsoring the memorial effort. 

The public is also invited to attend an MLK in Simsbury celebration at First Church of Christ at 2 p.m. on Monday Jan. 20. It will include the documentary, readings and more.

Learn more or donate at http://www.mlkinct.com/