We are excited to present The Legacy of Slavery in America as part of the Edinburgh International Festival this year. The exhibition is a narrative experience, which opened in Scotland this weekend displays an abridged version of our Legacy Museum. This is the first international exhibition for EJI.
Art plays a critical role in animating the evolution of racial injustice throughout all four Legacy Sites—the Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and the newest site, Montgomery Square.
Exhibiting at the world-renowned Edinburgh International Festival provides a new and unique opportunity to explore the power that is created when art and justice come together.
“We are thrilled to bring a part of the Legacy Sites to Edinburgh for this exciting festival,” EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson said. “The relationship between art, music, and justice is deep, profound, and ancient. So much of the world’s most extraordinary creative works have been shaped by eras of inequality, bigotry, and injustice.”
The exhibition is located at the University of Edinburgh’s Playfair Library. It is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm and will run until August 30. Admission is free; tickets are required; walk-ins can be accommodated depending on availability.
Book tickets nowThe Legacy of Slavery in America traces the evolution of the history of racial injustice in the United States through deeply-researched written content, first-person accounts, visual exhibits, and short films.
The exhibit’s narrative journey illustrates how the false narrative of racial difference—created to fuel and sustain the enslavement of kidnapped Africans—resulted in centuries of racial bigotry and injustice that continue to shape the world today.
The myth of racial hierarchy used to justify the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved People and the Domestic Slave Trade did not end when slavery was abolished in 1865. Instead, it evolved—through the era of racial terror lynchings that followed the Civil War and Reconstruction, the era of codified racial segregation, and the contemporary emergence of over-incarceration.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
The Edinburgh International Festival began in 1947 as a way to connect artists and communities from different backgrounds and nationalities as Europe and the world recovered after World War II. The Festival brings thousands of artists, creators, and performers to Edinburgh every August, and has traditionally focused on theatre, opera, dance, and music.
Our exhibition is the first museum experience the Festival has presented to visitors.
This year, the Festival focuses on the 250th anniversary of the United States with the theme “All Rise,” described as “a rallying cry to artists and audiences to stand with us, in our belief that through artistic endeavour we will see each other more truthfully and more tolerantly.”
The opening concert of the Festival on August 8 featured the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and their Musical Director, legendary jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis. Mr. Marsalis joined over 200 musicians to perform the monumental All Rise, his 12-movement jazz symphony that was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic in 1999 to mark the turn of the century.
Our exhibition provides an overview of American history that can act as a backbone for visitors experiencing this year’s Festival program, much of which is presented by American artists and international artists whose works engage with the global impact of the United States.
Mr. Stevenson shares a hope that the experience will “deepen visitors’ appreciation of the impactful music and creative expression this history has inspired.”