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WOODARD, FREEMAN, USHER AT KING MEMORIAL FUNDRAISER: Venue to open doors on National Mall in 2008.
*Alfre Woodard, Morgan Freeman and Usher were among the celebs gathered Tuesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel to help raise funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Woodard, a high school student when King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, thought "the world was coming to an end" upon hearing the news.
"It is fitting that finally a citizen will have a memorial on the [National] Mall," Woodard said at the black-tie gala. "It will remind people that an individual can change the course of history worldwide."
Coretta Scott King, who died in January, gave had given her blessing to the memorial's design. It will feature a 24-foot-tall profile of her husband, along with a Mountain of Despair granite entryway etched with King's words.
"It's going to remind you of Rodin's Balzac," said Freeman, who in 1968 was on the Broadway stage performing “Hello, Dolly!” when Pearl Bailey announced the news of King’s death to the audience.
Usher, born 10 years after King’s death, had a chance to worship with the late Coretta Scott King at an Atlanta church and said her husband’s legacy has influenced his own life and career.
"It will be the kind of monument I'll want to take my grandmother and grandfather to, because I know they will truly appreciate it. And someday my kids, to teach them the story of the struggle," the singer said.
Groundbreaking is planned for November, and the unveiling is expected in 2008.
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