Spectators in downtown South Bend hold hands and sing, We Shall Overcome, after the unveiling of a sculpture Wednesday depicting the late Rev. Theodore Hesburgh holding hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Staff photo by Becky Malewitz
SOUTH BEND — Like a moment frozen in time, the image of two famous civil rights leaders joining hands in Chicago in 1964 is now a permanent part of the landscape in downtown South Bend.
A crowd of several hundred people turned out under sunny skies Wednesday to witness the unveiling and dedication of a new sculpture honoring the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, the late longtime president of the University of Notre Dame, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, the famed civil rights leader who was slain by an assassin's bullet in 1968.
Some of the participants marched to the event, walking nearly a mile from the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center on Linden Avenue to Leighton Plaza downtown, the spot selected for the sculpture.
Speaking to the crowd, Mayor Pete Buttigieg described the day as a great day for South Bend. The sculpture is "a way to send a signal of the kind the city we want to be," he said, noting both Hesburgh and King were known for their dedication to fairness, civility and morality.
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