Tonight, EJI celebrates the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum at the Concert for Peace and Justice, featuring performances by The Roots, Dave Matthews, Usher, Common, Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes, Jon Batiste, Kirk Franklin, Tasha Cobbs, Robert Glasper, Valerie June, Greg Phillinganes, Alabama State University Choir, plus very special guests.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show at the Riverwalk Amphitheater in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.
EJI would like to specially thank the sponsors for the Concert for Peace and Justice:
LiveNation
RocNation
Tidal
Abercrombie and Fitch
American Family Insurance
Taschen
Puma
Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Ltd.
The Museum and Memorial
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to racial terror lynchings of African Americans and the legacy of slavery and racial inequality in America. On a six-acre site atop a rise overlooking downtown Montgomery, the memorial uses sculpture, art, and design to contextualize racial terror and includes a memorial square with 800 six-foot monuments that identify thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United States. EJI is inviting communities to acknowledge and confront their history of racial injustice by claiming monuments to install in their communities.
The Legacy Museum is a one-of-a-kind narrative museum housing interactive media, sculpture, videography, and exhibits that immerse visitors in the sights and sounds of the domestic slave trade, racial terrorism, the Jim Crow South, and the world’s largest prison system. The museum is just a short walk from the memorial, on the site of a former warehouse where Black people were enslaved in Montgomery, Alabama.
“There is still so much to be done in this country to recover from our history of racial inequality,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson. “I’m hopeful that sites like the ones we are building and conversations like the ones we’re organizing will empower and inspire people to have the courage to create a more just and healthy future. We can achieve more in America when we commit to truth-telling about our past.”
We hope you will join us for this momentous occasion in Alabama. And don’t forget to reserve your entry tickets to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum!