Just ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, The Embrace, a monumental bronze sculpture depicting the intimately intertwined arms of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, was revealed on the Boston Common to commemorate two of the American Civil Rights movement’s most prominent leaders. Designed by artist Hank Willis Thomas in collaboration with MASS Design Group, the abstract work pays homage to the pair, who met in Boston as students in the 1950s and briefly made a home there. The Embrace anchors the new 1965 Freedom Rally Memorial Plaza, a 6,000-square-foot public gathering place, also designed by MASS, that memorializes a landmark speech made by King at the Boston Common.  

Willis Thomas refers to the collaborative work as “a testament to what we can achieve when we come together,” adding that “the sculpture embodies people’s capacity for love, change, and hope for the future.”