Both the physical and symbolic gateway from downtown Pittsburgh to the city's oldest urban neighborhood, the intersection of Centre Avenue and Crawford Street has served—for four decades—as the focus for marches, demonstrations, protests, and celebrations that promote racial justice and civil rights.

In the 1950s, Pittsburgh's redevelopment efforts demolished the Lower Hill neighborhood, including landmarks like Bethel AME Church, local businesses, and homes, to make way for the Civic Arena (now Mellon Arena). Promises of new, affordable housing never materialized, and more than 8,000 residents—most of them African-Americans— were forced to relocate to other parts of the city. In the early 1960s, when the city targeted the area from the new Arena to Kirkpatrick Street as the next step in what the community called  "urban removal," remaining residents of the Hill rose up in protest. They erected a billboard reading "No development beyond this point!" at the corner of Centre and Crawford. Demonstrators gathered on the steps of St. Benedict the Moor Church, and— amid cries of "Not another inch!" and in the face of death threats—they marched to City Hall. The community succeeded in holding back the tide of further demolition and redevelopment" in the upper Hill. From that time on, the corner of Centre and Crawford was known as Freedom Corner and became the rallying point for local marches and civil rights demonstrations that reflected Dr. Martin Luther King's commitment to nonviolent protest.

In 1963, Freedom Corner was the point of departure for more than 2,000 Pittsburghers who attended the historic March on Washington when Dr. King delivered his "I Have A Dream"  speech to an audience of more than a quarter of a million people. Since then, it has become the focal point for marches that demanded an end to discrimination in labor unions and in corporate hiring and the point of departure for other marches on Washington in support of civil rights, child welfare, and affordable housing. More recently, it has been the scene of demonstrations protesting police brutality and hate group activity.

In 1992, the Hill District Project Area Committee proposed to erect a sculpture on this corner, which had become a symbol of freedom, and—with the strong support of the late City Councilman Jake Milliones (left) — began the campaign that materialized nearly a decade later under the leadership of Councilman Sala Udin and a dedicated committee.. Supported by generous private and public sector contributions and individual residents, the granite and bronze monument was constructed on land leased from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It was dedicated on April 22, 2001, as a symbol of the struggle for justice and an inspiration to future generations to carry on Dr. King's dream.