“The matter came up for judicial investigation, but as might have been expected, the white people concluded it was unnecessary to wait the result of the investigation—that it was preferable to hang the accused first and try him afterward.”

| Ida B. Wells- Barnett

On April 26, the nation’s first memorial in honor of victims of lynching will open in Montgomery, Alabama.  The exhibits aim to spark conversations around “racial terrorism.”   Founded by Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) aims to offer space to recognize the immense loss of life and the depth of grief caused by this socially agreed upon injustice.  Stevenson said in an interview, “We want to make the legacy of slavery visible. We have a holocaust museum that’s very powerful and effective in this country even though the holocaust didn’t take place here. And this says something about how we have avoided honestly confronting this legacy, so we want to build a museum where you are going to be forced to confront the history of slavery.”  For more information on why the memorial is needed and to purchase tickets, please click here.