GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A Grand Rapids native is sharing his close connection to Martin Luther King Jr.
Marshall Purnell, a Professor of Architecture at North Carolina State University, says his most memorable project is Dr. King’s memorial in Washington D.C.
Even though this project wasn’t the largest, nor the most complex he’s had throughout his career, he says it means the most to him because of who it’s for.
“I think it would’ve been important for any African-American architect in the country,” said Purnell.
Purnell’s firm, Devrouax and Purnell Architects Planners, was selected around 2009 to turn the MLK memorial’s concept into a project which took about a year-and-a-half to complete.
His firm designed the memorial to be a contemplative place for people to go and read the words of Martin Luther King Jr.
“We felt like his words were what were important, not necessarily his image. He was never a person who put himself before his message.”
The opportunity was a spiritual full circle moment for Purnell who as a teen had another interesting connection to MLK.
He wrote a poem for his Ottawa Hills English class at a march in Grand Rapids the weekend after Dr. King’s assassination in 1968 titled “The King is Dead. Long live the King.”
“I grew up in that moment and what I mean by that is, I passed from a young teenager boy adolescent to manhood when I read that.”
Purnell works with the Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation, which is a non-profit that helps enrich the lives of students through educational experiences.
The foundation’s CEO, Stephanie Andrews hopes Purnell’s story will inspire other GRPS students to pursue their dreams.
“I’m hoping students will see if the thing you write in English class or if you have an opportunity to speak in public, that will then fast forward you to some other place and you’ll have that connection point,” said Andrews.
Purnell believes the younger generation should take the time to read and learn about King’s true legacy.
“The U.S. is not the best place in the world for everybody but he made it a much better place.”
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