Scenes from the MLK Memorial

Interviewed is Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil-rights icon.

Freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. is one of two African Americans in the House Republican Conference.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., represents the city of Memphis, which has one of the highest percentages of African-Americans in the country and was the site of King's assassination in 1968.

Clarence Jones, a member of King's "kitchen cabinet" and one of his closest advisers, helped draft the "I Have a Dream" speech. He recently published a book on the speech's composition and is currently a scholar in residence at Stanford University's Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., is in her 11th term as a nonvoting member of Congress. She helped organize the March on Washington and describes herself as a "child of the civil-rights movement."

Richard Parsons is chairman of Citigroup and a prominent African-American business executive. He turned 20 years old on April 4, 1968 -- the day King was assassinated.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., was first elected to Congress in 1995. His father, civil-rights activist Jesse Jackson, was with King in Memphis, Tenn., when he was assassinated.

Lisa Jackson is administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency--the first African-American to hold that position. Following are edited excerpts from the interview.

Vincent Gray was elected to his first term as mayor of the District of Columbia in 2010. A native Washingtonian, he was the first African-American fraternity member at George Washington University.