Crossing:

Water surrounds the temple-like structure of the Memorial.  Besides that structure, water is the single most salient feature of the Memorial. Just as the Africans brought in shackles to the Western Hemisphere, most of whom never survived, we must cross the waters to reach the Memorial’s center.  Whether we enter from east or west, we make a solemn processional approximately 400 feet or 200 steps, unprotected and unrelieved by shelter or shade.