This essay was first posted in 2018 shortly after The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened. I am taking another look at my own experience there because it is all the more important that we remember our all too recent history. As can be seen in the inscription in the photo, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice assures that "We will remember."
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| Photo by Elaine Kinnaird |
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama on April 26, 2018. Last week, my daughter and I toured the new memorial which is known as “the lynching memorial.” The day we went, it was well attended, with about an even number of black people and white people present.
During the time between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, many thousands of African Americans were lynched, and those lynchings served to preserve white supremacy – to assure that blacks “knew their place,” as the saying went down here in the South. It was a time of systemic terrorism aimed at black citizens whereby lynching served to instill fear and subjugation. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is intended to be a legacy for those African Americans who were “terrorized by lynching,” and “humiliated by racial segregation.”
During the time between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, many thousands of African Americans were lynched, and those lynchings served to preserve white supremacy – to assure that blacks “knew their place,” as the saying went down here in the South. It was a time of systemic terrorism aimed at black citizens whereby lynching served to instill fear and subjugation. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is intended to be a legacy for those African Americans who were “terrorized by lynching,” and “humiliated by racial segregation.”
Confronting Our Past
Most whites, by virtue of their innate societal privilege, had no awareness of the fear and oppression that blacks lived under for 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, those of us who grew up in the South knew about the boundaries: the segregation, the separate water fountains, the impoverished black neighborhoods. But most of us did not understand the fear, the terror, and the sheer danger of being black in America.
Most whites, by virtue of their innate societal privilege, had no awareness of the fear and oppression that blacks lived under for 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, those of us who grew up in the South knew about the boundaries: the segregation, the separate water fountains, the impoverished black neighborhoods. But most of us did not understand the fear, the terror, and the sheer danger of being black in America.
At the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Equal Justice Initiative has collected some 4,400 names of people who were lynched. Those names are engraved onto 800 corten steel monuments, each steel structure representing a county where lynchings took place. We learned that lynchings occurred between 1877 and 1950 to terrorize the black population and keep Jim Crow laws enforced. The most recent lynching date I saw occurred in 1948. The farthest place north that I saw represented was Duluth, Minnesota. By confronting our past and its continuing legacy, the memorial can serve as a catalyst for reconciliation and healing.
Reactions to the Memorial
My first reaction upon entering was to try to read every name. There were too many names to read each one. I then began looking at the counties where lynchings occurred and the years that each one took place. I overheard some visitors asking, “Have you found our county yet?” Then I realized there were also too many counties. I decided just to walk around the monument and let the structure speak.
In one section of the memorial, one can read the stories behind some of the lynchings that occurred. There was the prosperous farmer in 1948 who was lynched because he went to the polls to vote. There was the woman lynched because she protested the lynching of her husband, and the young man who was lynched simply because they could not find his relative who was the one they intended to lynch. The magnitude of the atrocities that our society condoned was incredible, but they all had names, and they all had a story to tell. Perhaps we can finally hear those names and those stories.
In one section of the memorial, one can read the stories behind some of the lynchings that occurred. There was the prosperous farmer in 1948 who was lynched because he went to the polls to vote. There was the woman lynched because she protested the lynching of her husband, and the young man who was lynched simply because they could not find his relative who was the one they intended to lynch. The magnitude of the atrocities that our society condoned was incredible, but they all had names, and they all had a story to tell. Perhaps we can finally hear those names and those stories.
The most moving moment for me was when I had come through the display of names to a wall over which water flowed down (justice rolling down like waters?). It was there that I saw a young lady sitting, with her eyes closed and head bowed, as if in prayer. Tears came to my eyes as I saw her. Was she praying? Was she asking forgiveness? Praying for the victims of systemic violence? Or was she meditating? Perhaps she was bringing herself in touch with the reality of the atrocities represented in the naming of each lynching victim. Or perhaps she was just trying to take it all in.
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| Photo by Charles Kinnaird |
We Will Remember
By commemorating the incidents whereby terrorism was used to keep blacks suppressed and subjugated, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice brings us face to face with our own history. On their website, the Equal Justice Initiative states:
By commemorating the incidents whereby terrorism was used to keep blacks suppressed and subjugated, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice brings us face to face with our own history. On their website, the Equal Justice Initiative states:
A history of racial injustice must be acknowledged, and mass atrocities and abuse must be recognized and remembered, before a society can recover from mass violence. Public commemoration plays a significant role in prompting community-wide reconciliation.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice provides a sacred space for truth-telling and reflection about racial terrorism and its legacy.
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| Photo by Charles Kinnaird |
Learn More
Read more about the National Memorial at the EJI website at https://eji.org/national-lynching-memorial.
See the video below, produced by The Guardian in which Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative, tells about The Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Then go to Montgomery to see it for yourself. It is definitely worth the trip.
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