On April 26-27, an exciting array of nationally acclaimed speakers and performers will celebrate the Grand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. EJI will host two compelling days of events at the Peace and Justice Summit from April 26-27 and the Opening Ceremony on April 26.
The two-day Summit will run all day on Thursday, April 26, and Friday, April 27, at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center. National leaders and advocates speaking at the Summit include Michelle Alexander, Sherrilyn Ifill, Gloria Steinem, Marian Wright Edelman, Rev. William Barber, Ava DuVernay, Elizabeth Alexander, Anna Deavere Smith, Vice President Al Gore, The Roots, Common, and Piper Kerman.
On Thursday, April 26, the Opening Ceremony will feature John Lewis and other national leaders, and performances from artists including Bebe Winans, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The ceremony will take place at the Montgomery Convention Center.
Located on a six-acre site atop a rise overlooking downtown Montgomery, 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.
The memorial uses sculpture, art, and design to contextualize racial terror and includes a memorial square with 800 six-foot monuments to identify thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United States and the counties and states where this terrorism took place. The memorial aspires to advance truth and reconciliation in the United States by inviting communities to acknowledge the history of racial injustice and confront this history by claiming monuments for their community.
Located on the site of a former warehouse where Black people were enslaved in Montgomery, Alabama, the Legacy Museum is a one-of-a-kind narrative museum housing interactive media, sculpture, videography, and exhibits to 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 Legacy Museum is located just a short walk from the memorial.
“There is still so much to be done in this country to recover from our history of racial inequality,” said EJI Executive 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 in celebrating this momentous occasion by attending the Grand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum and the Peace and Justice Summit.
Tickets for the Opening Ceremony on April 26 are $10 and are selling quickly. A pass to the Peace and Justice Summit is $25 and provides access to multiple talks on April 26 and 27. Passes and tickets are available for purchase here.
For more information and entry tickets to the Memorial and Museum, please visit museumandmemorial.eji.org.