In honor of MLK

Martin Luther King Jr.’s words were not only hanging in the humid Missouri air Monday night, but they were also chiseled on the granite pillars of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at Battle Garden.

Thirteen years after the original dedication, the monument at the Stadium Boulevard access point to the MKT Nature/Fitness Trail was rededicated before more than 100 people on the 43rd anniversary of King’s “I have a dream” speech.

Addressing the crowd, Arvarh Strickland, MU’s first black professor, posed the same question he asked in 1993 at the original dedication: “What mean these stones?” taken from the Bible’s book of Joshua. Strickland reminded the audience that the struggle for equality is not over. The stones of the monument, he said, symbolize not an ending but a new beginning.

“When our children shall ask their fathers and mothers in time to come, ‘What mean these stones?’ you must let them know that these stones are not here just to commemorate events that occurred in Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Jackson, Mississippi,” Strickland said. “These stones must remind us of those in Columbia, Boone County and the state of Missouri, who were in the struggle to make this a more beloved community.”

Nearly two decades after its beginning, Columbia’s tribute to King and the civil rights movement stands complete, renamed in honor of Eliot Battle and his late wife, Muriel. Eliot Battle was the first black faculty member in the city’s integrated schools, and Muriel Battle was the first black principal in the Columbia Public School District.

Eliot Battle was not alone at the ceremony. Among those in attendance were two of his three daughters and his granddaughter, Angela Browder, an MU graduate student. Browder said she considers herself lucky to have attended college and graduate school near her grandparents, growing to see and respect them on a whole new level.

Her mother, Muriel Jean Browder, said she sees the significance of the garden’s dedication to her parents, for they were “pebbles in the Martin Luther King world, but icons in the Columbia world.”

And on top of Battle Garden’s sloping hill stood the Rev. Jim Bryan of Missouri United Methodist Church behind a new bench honoring Muriel Battle, inscribed with words promising she would not be forgotten. “She was a member of my church,” Bryan said, “She lit up the world.”

The monument’s artist, Barbara Grygutis of Tucson, Ariz., said the design was inspired by King’s words, allowing the community to move from quote to quote and absorb the meaning. But shortly after the memorial’s original dedication, water drainage left white calcium deposits on the monument’s blue tiles. The damage required a major restoration.

Marie Hunter, manager of the Office of Cultural Affairs, said the cost of the restoration project totaled $209,923, including $98,768 from the Save America’s Treasures Grant from the National Park Service, $66,155 from donations, and $45,000 from the city. A $20,000 endowment was also established for future maintenance. Fund-raising efforts allowed for a new pavilion and additional amenities at the site.

“The memorial is a reflection of the values the community holds,” Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku said last week. “Columbia embraces the values that Dr. King advanced during his life time.”