The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL

 Part 3 of 3

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice".
 ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first of the three EJI Legacy Sites we visited in Montgomery, AL was The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This site was particularly powerful and overwhelming as huge steel markers show the state and county, along with the lynched. At first you walk through them. Then, as you go downhill, they are higher and above your head. There is something to craning one's neck to read the counties that wasn't lost on me. It was a humbling experience. As one looks for counties, one hopes to not find those one has lived in or currently lives in. But I knew Whitfield county, GA was there. I didn't know about Hamilton county, TN, but it was there too. 

After walking through these, there is another set of the markers laying flat on the ground. They are a bit easier to read that way, though they look like grave covers in that position, akin to the ones I have seen made of marble in South Georgia at the church cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried.

After making one's way through these, there are some statues and then replica markers.

As you make your way back to the beginning, there is much to contemplate. 

Near the entrance/exit, there are other statues and writings to read and absorb.

The educational offering is unlike anything I have experienced, though the Holocaust museum in Israel, Yad Vashem, comes close. That place was a huge educational experience for me too-- powerful, humbling, haunting.... Just like The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

It isn't easy to see all those markers. It isn't easy to realize how horrible our society treated people. 

But it is important to know the true history, to honor lives taken, and to seek reparative justice.

I included a link for The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in the first paragraph.

Here are some other links with information:

• Mass Group (the group that designed the Memorial)
• U.S. Civil Rights Trail
• Video from Smart History (also below)
• NPR article/recording
• NY Times article

Here are my photos:

Here are two photos taken by our group leader that show me looking up at the Whitfield county marker:

I highly recommend a trip to Montgomery, AL to see The Legacy Sites. There is so much to see, learn, experience.... so much that I didn't hear or learn growing up. 

It's time to bring peace, justice, and healing to our society. This trip was a part of me doing so on the journey.

Deb

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The other two posts in this series:

• The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL
• The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, AL

The Whitfield Remembrance Project:

• Whitfield Remembrance Project (Facebook)
• Whitfield Remembrance Project (Website)

The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, AL

Part 2 of 3

The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park was the 2nd stop of the day. (I'm writing in reverse order.) If you click on the link highlighted, you can see some photos of the park, some quotes about it, and some information. There is also a video that I encourage you to watch. It tells about the park, the art, etc. The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park is also part of EJI-- Equal Justice Initiative-- as is The Legacy Museum that I wrote about previously.

Visitors are allowed to take photos at a few locations inside the park-- 1 at the beginning and then the rest at the end. 

As you wind around the path, much of the art is bigger than life. So many pieces remind one of the horrors of slavery. The huge ball and chain was one of those for me. There were also pieces that showed how people lived -- 2 plantation homes; a boxcar train to show how slaves were transported.

One piece that caught my attention were fingers coming out of the ground. HUGE fingers. They surrounded a tree that was tall and upright. It was as if life had grown out of that hand. 

Walking through the woman who opened her chest cavity for us to walk through was powerful, humbling. It was as if we were invited in-- invited in to her life, her pain, her story. Yet, we passed through to the other side.

The biggest piece in the park is shaped like an open book and contains the surnames from the 1870 census, the first census in which black people were included. There are over 100,000 names engraved on this monument. You can find more information on this piece-- size, background, etc.-- in the link posted in the beginning of this post about the park.

This piece was something to behold. Not only was it huge, but names were on both sides. I didn't go around to the back, but I did search for some names. In the video on the link above I learned that not all surnames were taken from connections with slave owners and families. Only a percentage. I believe I heard 40%, but would need to listen again to verify. 

There is a fountain after this and then you are back in the beginning.

There is a statue of Harriet Tubman at the visitor center and photos are allowed there also. 

There is a big computerized data base of the census inside that you can look up names. You can look them up by state and county. That was informative. I believe I saw a theater in there as well. 

OTHER LINKS WITH INFORMATION AND PHOTOS:

• News Channel 4-- March 18, 2024
• Daniel Popper-- July 31, 2024
• Whitney Washington-- August 10, 2024

There is much more information to be found online.

I recommend a visit to The Legacy Sites to learn more.

Thank you for joining me in this educational endeavor. 

Deb

The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL

PART 1 of a three site visit

Yesterday was my first visit to The Legacy Museum (one of the three Legacy Sites of EJI-- Equal Justice Initiative) in Montgomery, AL. It's a place I had heard of, but hadn't had the opportunity to go. Because of the Whitfield Remembrance Project, I was able to join in on their bus trip yesterday. It was a long, yet powerful and meaningful day.

I don't know if I can process everything I saw and experienced. And, I didn't experience it all. There were short movies that I didn't stop to watch inside theatre rooms. I watched clips of some movies in the main room along the way. There were more interactive people to listen to throughout the museum. I did listen to a few. There were MANY things to read. I read some here and there. I tried to soak in all I could. It is information I want and need to learn. I don't remember learning about lynchings in school or the "poll test" that war required of people to pass in order to vote. There were sample poll tests.

Here is a link to a real poll test from the state of Alabama from 1965. They were also called "literacy tests". It is eight pages long. Honestly, if I had had to ta take suck a test in order to vote when I turned 18 years old, I don't think I could have passed it. I don't think I could pass it now without studying. That, my friends, is called white privilege. And that hurts my heart. 

Another thing that stood out to me in The Legacy Museum was going through the waters. The floor path led you through what felt like the bottom of the sea. On both sides were heads and bodies of the men, women, and children who died in the transatlantic slave trade. Nearly 2,000,000 (that's 2 million) lives were lost during the ocean crossing. That's horrific. Sadly, that's only part of the horrors of the story. From the beginning of being taken to those that made it across the ocean, horrific truth after truth is available for us to learn. And learn we must. 

We weren't able to take pictures at The Legacy Museum. But we did take a group photo outside, with the jar of soil that we brought to go into the museum.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to "Soil Collections" for information about the jars of soil.

Here is a link to see the wall of the jars of soil at The Legacy Museum. It is a photo that can be ordered as a print.

I will write more about the soil we took to the museum and the other two sites we visited. We were able to take a few pictures at the 2nd site and lots at the first site. 

Meanwhile, you can read the links I've posted to learn about all three sites. If you read the Whitfield Remembrance Project link I posted, you can read about the soil that was taken.

When I get the group photo from the museum, I will post it.

Here is the one photo I have from The Legacy Museum:

My cousin Michelle and her husband David flew in from Colorado to go on this trip with me. It was a special day to spend with them.

There was a gift shop/bookstore at the museum. I didn't buy any books or t-shirts. SURPRISE! I know. There was a t-shirt that had a perfect quote on it, but it was mustard yellow and that color does not look good on me. I wish I had taken a photo of it or even written the quote down because I don't remember the exact quote. It had to do with hope. I don't think this is the quote, but it is a quote on hope:

“The kind of hope that creates a willingness to position oneself in a hopeless place and be a witness, that allows one to believe in a better future, even in the face of abusive power. That kind of hope makes one strong.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

Though I didn't buy a book or a t-shirt, I did, however, buy a magnet with a different quote that resonated with me: 

"The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned." ~Bryan Stevenson 

There is much more to say, to process, to remember. I will make some time to do just that.

Meanwhile, I hope you might join me on my journey to learn, to seek truth, to do better.

A favorite verse of mine, Micah 6:8, puts it this way (abbreviated version):

do justice, love mercy, walk humbly

I have a t-shirt with that quote on it from The Happy Givers. I wore it to a special event in September. I will share that in a later post.

Peace, 

Deb

Group photo: