Thousands of surnames adorn the imposing monument, which represents the more than 4 million slaves who were freed after the Civil warin 1865.
The Nonprofit Criminal Justice Reform Organization Equal Justice Initiative He took advantage of the Juneteenth national holiday this Wednesday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, to dedicate his National Monument to Freedom.
The monument, which honors the people who they endured and survived slaveryis the centerpiece of the new Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama, where art and historical artifacts tell the story of slaves in the United States.
During the inauguration ceremony, the founder of Equal Justice InitiativeBryan Stevenson, told how enslaved people endured unspeakable horrors, but also left a legacy of perseverance and strength.
“Slaves in this country did something extraordinary that we should acknowledge, that we should acknowledge, and that we should celebrate. The slaves resisted. The slaves were resilient. Slaves found ways to make their way,” Stevenson said.
Juneteenth is a day to confront the brutality of slavery and its impact, but he said it is also a day to celebrate the dignity and strength of people who managed to love and survive despite what they faced.
“They never stopped believing. They never stopped longing for freedom. This Juneteenth morning, as we leave here, I hope we have hope,” Stevenson said.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Galveston, Texas, discovered they were free after the Civil War. The news came two months after the war ended and approximately two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Stretching four stories into the sky, the National Monument to Freedom It has inscribed 122,000 surnames that formerly enslaved people chose for themselves, as documented in the 1870 census, after they were emancipated at the end of the Civil War. Those last names represent the more than 4 million enslaved people who were freed after emancipation.
The Equal Justice Initiative created the park to tell the story of enslaved people honestly. The sculpture park is the third site created by the organization. The first two sites: the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a memorial to people killed in racial terrorism killings; and The Legacy Museum: From Slavery to Mass Incarceration, opened in 2018.
Dr. Michele R. Williams and her mother, Barbara Y. Williams, combed through the rows of names Wednesday morning looking for their family name, Murdough.
“There is a story connected to each name and the families they represent,” Michele Williams said. Her ancestor, a man named Moses, is believed to have lived in one of two slave cabins that were taken from an Alabama plantation to become an exhibit in the sculpture park.
“It was just heartbreaking, but also very moving,” Michele Williams said of seeing the cabin.
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