The National Memorial to Peace and Justice, Civil rights memorial in Montgomery, United States
The National Memorial to Peace and Justice is a memorial in Montgomery addressing the history of racial violence in the United States. The site covers a sloped terrain with 800 steel columns engraved with the names of counties where lynchings were documented.
The site opened in 2018 to remember the systematic violence against Black Americans from the end of the Civil War to the mid-20th century. Each column bears names of victims from a specific county, documenting the geographic spread of these crimes.
The name reflects the intention to remember thousands of victims of racial violence and make their stories visible. Visitors walk among the hanging columns and experience how the ground slopes downward, leaving the monuments suspended overhead.
The entrance is located on Caroline Street and the site is open Wednesday through Sunday between 9 AM and 5 PM. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes as the terrain slopes and some paths cross uneven ground.
Each column exists in duplicate, allowing communities to collect their copy and install it in their home region. So far, only a few counties have accepted this offer, showing the ongoing difficulty of confronting this history.
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