SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — A crowd joined hands and sang “We Shall Overcome” after the unveiling of a sculpture depicting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and University of Notre Dame President Theodore Hesburgh in downtown South Bend.
The bronze sculpture was modeled after a photograph of King and Hesburgh joining hands during a 1964 civil rights rally at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Current Notre Dame President John Jenkins said during Wednesday’s ceremony that Hesburgh rushed to Chicago after the city’s mayor and a Roman Catholic archbishop declined to join King.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg says a march before the unveiling represented the journey remaining to achieve equality.
The sculpture was created by retired Indiana University South Bend art professor Tuck Langland. Hesburgh led Notre Dame from 1952 until 1987.
