Editing Maya Lin (section)

==Vietnam Veterans Memorial==
{{Further|Vietnam Veterans Memorial}}
[[File:MayaLinsubmission.jpg|thumb|Lin's winning submission for the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] design competition]]
In 1981, at 21 and still an [[Undergraduate education|undergraduate]] student, Lin won a public design competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to be built on the [[National Mall]] in Washington D.C. Her design, one of 1,422 submissions,<ref name="LOC">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm022.html|title=Vietnam Veterans Memorial|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=January 3, 2009|archive-date=January 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119101755/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm022.html|url-status=live}}</ref> specified a black [[granite]] wall with the names of 57,939 fallen soldiers carved into its face (hundreds more have been added since the dedication),<ref name="VVMFFacts"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://www.vvmf.org/about-vvmf/FAQs/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund|language=en-US|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627051849/https://www.vvmf.org/about-vvmf/FAQs/|url-status=live}}</ref> to be v-shaped, with one side pointing toward the [[Lincoln Memorial]] and the other toward the [[Washington Monument]].<ref name="VVMFFacts">{{cite web|url=http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?sectionID=539|title=Facts and Figures|publisher=Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund|access-date=January 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304051639/http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?sectionID=539|archive-date=March 4, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The memorial was designed in the [[Minimalism|minimalist]] architectural style, which was in contrast to previous war memorials.<ref name=":3" /> The memorial was completed in late October 1982 and dedicated in November 1982.<ref name="VVMFHistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionID=76|title=History|publisher=Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund|access-date=January 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304031234/http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionID=76|archive-date=March 4, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to Lin, her intention was to create an opening or a wound in the earth to symbolize the pain caused by the war and its many casualties. "I imagined taking a knife and cutting into the earth, opening it up, and with the passage of time, that initial violence and pain would heal," she recalled.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Woman Who Healed America|url=https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2019/10/23/the-woman-who-healed-america|website=The Attic|date=October 23, 2019|access-date=5 November 2019|archive-date=November 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105210849/https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2019/10/23/the-woman-who-healed-america|url-status=live}}</ref>

Her winning design was initially controversial for several reasons: its minimalist design,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403034599/vietnam-veterans-memorial-founder-monument-almost-never-got-built|title=Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built|newspaper=NPR.org|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-date=July 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707000640/http://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403034599/vietnam-veterans-memorial-founder-monument-almost-never-got-built|url-status=live}}</ref> her lack of professional experience, and her Asian ethnicity.<ref name="AAM"/><ref name="GreenMuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Issues/lin.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621063353/http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Issues/lin.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 21, 2010|author=Marla Hochman|title=Maya Lin, Vietnam Memorial|publisher=greenmuseum.org|access-date=December 30, 2008}}</ref><ref name="JackMagazine">{{cite web|url=http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue9/essayksands.html|title=Maya Lin's Wall: A Tribute to Americans|work=Jack Magazine|author=Kristal Sands|access-date=December 30, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120141639/http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue9/essayksands.html|archive-date=November 20, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Some objected to the exclusion of the surviving veterans' names, while others complained about the dark complexion of the granite, claiming that it expressed a negative attitude towards the Vietnam War. Lin defended her design before the [[US Congress]], and a compromise was reached: ''[[Three Soldiers (statue)|Three Soldiers]]'', a bronze depiction of a group of soldiers and an [[American flag]] were placed to the side of Lin's design.<ref name="Favorite 185–205"/>

Notwithstanding the initial controversy, the memorial has become an important [[pilgrimage]] site for relatives and friends of the dead soldiers, many of whom leave personal tokens and mementos in memory of their loved ones.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/lin_m.htm|title=Free Resources – Women's History – Biographies – Maya Lin|work=Gale|date=March 12, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020203074950/http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/lin_m.htm|access-date=April 25, 2012|archive-date=February 3, 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Maya_Lin.html|title=Maya Lin – Great Buildings Online|work=Greatbuildings.com|access-date=April 25, 2012|archive-date=July 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717053530/http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Maya_Lin.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2007, an [[American Institute of Architects]] poll ranked the memorial No. 10 on a list of [[America's Favorite Architecture]], and it is now one of the most visited sites on the National Mall.<ref name="Favorite 185–205"/> Furthermore, it now serves as a memorial for the veterans of the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq War|Iraq]] wars.<ref name="Favorite 185–205"/> There is a collection with items left since 2001 from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which includes handwritten letters and notes of those who lost loved ones during these wars. There is also a pair of [[combat boot]]s and a note with it dedicated to the veterans of the Vietnam War, that reads "If your generation of Marines had not come home to jeers, insults, and protests, my generation would not come home to thanks, handshakes and hugs."<ref name="Favorite 185–205"/>

Lin once said that if the competition had not been held "blind" (with designs submitted by name instead of number), she "never would have won" on account of her ethnicity. Her assertion is supported by the fact that she was harassed after her ethnicity was revealed, as when prominent businessman and later third-party presidential candidate [[Ross Perot]] called her an "egg roll."<ref name="Wu">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/yellowraceinamer00wufr|url-access=registration|title=Yellow: Race In America Beyond Black and White|page=[https://archive.org/details/yellowraceinamer00wufr/page/95 95]|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|year=2002|author=Frank H. Wu|isbn=0-465-00639-6}}</ref>