President Donald Trump signed a measure Monday creating a new national historic park for Martin Luther King Jr. during a trip to the college football national championship game in Atlanta.
The President performed the signing on Air Force One with Alveda King, the niece of the late iconic civil rights leader, looking on.
The law creates the first national historic park in the state of Georgia. It was sponsored by Democratic Rep. John Lewis, a vocal Trump critic who recently boycotted the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum because the President spoke at the event.
The legislation expands the boundaries of the former Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta to include the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, a site that King used as the headquarters for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, according to a White House spokesman.
“Through his life and work, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made America more just and free. This important historical park tells his story, and this bill will help ensure that the park continues to tell Dr. King’s story for generations to come,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on Monday afternoon.
