There is no more fitting place than Montgomery, Ala., site of the epic 1955-56 black boycott to desegregate the bus system, to memorialize the nation's decades-long struggle for civil rights. Last week 5,000 black and white Americans gathered there to dedicate a black granite sculpture engraved with the names of 40 particularly unforgettable men, women and children -- an honor roll representing the untold numbers of people who have died in violent racial confrontations.
Centerpiece of the structure -- conceived by Maya Lin, who designed Washington's Viet Nam Veterans Memorial -- is a round tabletop, 11 1/2 ft. in diameter. On...