On May 30, 1922 the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated. Commission president William H. Taft – who was then Chief Justice of the United States – dedicated the Memorial on May 30, 1922 and presented it to President Warren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people.

President Lincoln’s only surviving son was a special guest at the dedication ceremony, receiving an ovation when he reached his seat. Robert Todd Lincoln did not deliver remarks but listened with great interest as other speakers paid tribute to his father.

The seating, like much of Washington, was segregated by race, yet the organizers chose Dr. Robert Russo Moton, President of Tuskegee Institute, as the keynote speaker. Addressing the mostly white crowd, Moton delivered the first of what would be many civil rights speeches at the memorial. He challenged the audience to consider Lincoln’s call for a “new birth of freedom.” From that day forward, the Lincoln Memorial became a national gathering place for groups demanding racial and social justice.

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