NEW ORLEANS –The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum have unveiled a six-foot cement statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that was acquired by the Louisiana State Museum in 2005. The artwork was created by the Rev. Ivory Dyson, a Louisiana artist who died in 2021.
The statue is stationed at the entrance to the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum – The Inaugural Experience inside the Convention Center’s Julia Street entrance.
“It is fitting to celebrate this important holiday weekend by further enhancing the experience of the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum with a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Michael J. Sawaya, Convention Center president and CEO. “We are proud to be the home of the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum exhibit and share it with our thousands of annual visitors and the citizens of Louisiana. This museum exhibit is a tribute to the many leaders from our state who played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement and were inspired by Dr. King, making the museum exhibit a fitting home for this wonderful statue.”
Dyson, from Tickfaw, is said to have created the statue to honor Dr. King’s ties to the Civil Rights Movement in Louisiana.
The NOENMCC has dedicated 5,000 square feet of space to house the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum – The Inaugural Experience, which opened in late 2023.
A spokesperson said “exhibit visitors are immersed in the ongoing civil rights journey, with pathways to explore advocacy, racial history and narrated profiles of equity and activism unique to Louisiana and its civil rights founders.”
