World's Most Controversial Monuments
Kristoffer Tripplaar / Alamy
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. finally got the monument treatment in Fall 2011. But if people were frustrated by the 27-year wait, they’ve got new complaints, starting with the chosen design by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin—as opposed to an African American, or at least American. And why was only half of his body carved? Poet Maya Angelou believes the inscription on the memorial, a quote from King, makes him “look like an arrogant twit.”