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EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

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. Equal Justice Initiative (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 Devere Smith, Vice President Al Gore, The Roots, Common, Piper Kerman and many others.

On Thursday, April 26, the Opening Ceremony will feature national leaders including John Lewis, with 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 will be the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to racial terror lynching’s 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.

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Located on the site of a former warehouse where black people were enslaved in Montgomery, Alabama, the Legacy Museum will become 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 will be 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. 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,” said EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson.

All are invited to celebrate this momentous occasion by attending the Grand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Alabama and the Peace and Justice Summit. Tickets for the Opening Ceremony on April 26 are $10 and selling quickly.

A pass to the Peace and Justice Summit is $25 and provides access to multiple talks from April 26-27. Passes and tickets are available for purchase here. For more information and entry tickets to the Memorial and Museum, please visit http://museumandmemorial.eji.org.

 

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