Smithsonian exhibition honoring Martin Luther King Jr. to open

DETROIT - Just in time for what would have been Martin Luther King Junior&#39;s 73rd birthday, the first major Smithsonian exhibition to celebrate his legacy premiers Sunday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. <br> <br> ``In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.&#39;&#39; is a collection of 120 works by more than 100 artists who have been inspired to carry on King&#39;s spirit through their art. <br> <br> Anna Cohn, director of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, said, ``In the Spirit of Martin&#39; is the most profound exhibition we&#39;ve ever moved out of SITES.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> SITES, which Cohn said moves nearly 50 exhibitions throughout the country each year, will circulate the King exhibition through six cities during the next two years. PepsiCo is sponsoring the exhibition. <br> <br> The visual art history of King&#39;s life and the struggle for civil rights in the United States features recognizable professionals such as Norman Rockwell alongside self-taught artists such as 73-year-old Thornton Dial. <br> <br> Dial was born to a sharecropping family on an Alabama plantation and worked for more than 30 years as a steelworker. His pieces in the King exhibition, including the sculpture ``Slave Ship&#39;&#39;, illustrate his talent for creating art from raw materials like scrap metal, rope and canvas. <br> <br> Dial said that he sees Martin Luther King Junior everywhere in the historic and continuing struggle for equality.