While many people were canceling trips to Washington, D.C. this weekend, Verrett Poole-Strickland braved her journey eastward because she wasn’t going to miss “one of the most memorable moments in history”.

The threat of the violent Hurricane Irene was very real for cities up and down the East Coast. Still, many African-Americans came from all over the country to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Poole-Strickland, 49, even made sure her nephew and two children took the trip from St. Paul, Minn. with her.

“I appreciate it in a way,” she said about the hurricane warning that will postpone the official dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial statue until sometime in the early fall.