The memorial is located in a prominent spot near near the historic downtown Annapolis waterfront, a school and park along Compromise Street to be seen by locals and tourists.
It was surrounded by fencing and mesh netting Sunday, preventing people from getting much more than a glimpse.
"It is very, very important that people understand that the press is not the enemy of the people," Carl Snowden, chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Anne Arundel County, said. "It shines a light. It brings truth. It enables us to be able to see the world as it is and make it what we want it to be."