We are extremely grateful for your support of our work. We had a very eventful 2019, including the release of several clients, a major victory in the Supreme Court, and the opening of new sites to complement our internationally acclaimed Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which have drawn more than 650,000 visitors to Montgomery.
This year marked EJI’s 30th Anniversary, and in April, thousands of our alumni, former clients, supporters, friends, and family joined us for three days in Montgomery to celebrate three decades of fighting for justice, equality, and human rights. HBO’s True Justice documentary following 30 years of our work on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned was released earlier this year and is now available to watch for free.
We continued to challenge inhumane and abusive conditions of confinement in Alabama’s prisons and to represent nearly 100 clients across the country who are entitled to relief after our successful efforts ended mandatory life-without-parole sentences for children. On February 27, we won a ruling from the Supreme Court creating new protections for people condemned to death who suffer from mental illness resulting from neurological disease or injury.
Our work encouraging communities to acknowledge their histories of racial injustice expanded dramatically this year—hundreds of communities are actively engaged with us in community remembrance projects. This year, we opened our new Peace and Justice Memorial Center in Montgomery and dedicated a powerful new monument honoring, men, women, and children who were victims of racial terror lynchings during the 1950s.
Our impact on tourism growth in Montgomery was recognized this year—our Legacy Museum and National Memorial won the Tourism Attraction of the Year Award from the Alabama Tourism Department and we were awarded the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s highest award.
Next year promises to be an important year in our fight to challenge over-incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial and economic injustice. A feature film based on Bryan Stevenson’s bestselling book, Just Mercy, will be in theaters everywhere on January 10.
And we plan to open our Legacy Pavilion in Montgomery in January. Located just a block from our Legacy Museum, the pavilion will include new exhibition spaces that build on our racial justice work and will function as a welcome space, provide free parking to visitors, hold the ticket office and gift shop, and include a new restaurant from award-winning chefs.
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