Story by ASIA ASHLEY Photos by EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
MONTGOMERY , Alabama — In an era where the nation struggles with racial justice , the newly expanded Legacy Museum in Montgomery , Alabama seeks equality for all Americans .
Through first-person narratives , films , 3-D images and other forms of storytelling , the Legacy Museum ’ s “ From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration ” provides an in-depth look into the legacy of slavery , starting from the Transatlantic Slave Trade up through its impact to current day issues Black Americans face .
“ We need to reckon with and acknowledge that history . I believe there ’ s something better waiting for us that feels more like freedom , that feels more like equality is waiting for us . And for us to get there , we ’ re going to have to talk about the challenges that we face ,” said Bryan Stevenson , executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative which oversees the museum .
Montgomery , a central location in the slave trade and the Civil Rights Movement in the U . S ., was a fitting site for the museum , which is now housed at the site of a former cotton plantation where enslaved persons were forced into labor . Stevenson — an attorney who focuses his career on representing those on death row , wrongly convicted and unfairly sentenced — moved to Montgomery in the 1980s , launching his interest in starting the museum .
“ At that time , there were 59 markers and memorials to the Confederacy , but you couldn ’ t find the word slave , slavery or enslavement anywhere in this city . We romanticized the architects of slavery , but we did not acknowledge the brutality of enslavement ,” he said . “… Because we haven ’ t done that here , we are sitting in a space where the landscape is literally an iconography of the Confederacy , where we have not honestly confronted some of this history . I think that makes us vulnerable to bigotry , anti-semitism , racist behavior and to overcome that we need to engage in this reckoning .”
In doing so , visitors are met with screens describing the deadly ocean journey of more than 12 million Black enslaved persons kidnapped from Africa . Hundreds of faux sanded bodies with a large screen ocean back drop depicts the 2 million slaves who were buried at sea during the journey .
“ I think the power and legacy of that journey hasn ’ t really been addressed ,” Stevenson said . “ The loss that that journey created for millions of Black people , we haven ’ t reckoned with the tragedy of that horrific experience . I really wanted to engage people ’ s minds and heart [ with that exhibit ]. I wanted to dramatize kidnapping and them being disconnected from their identities .”
Holograms of enslaved women , men and children locked in various cells can be seen during slave trade exhibits , which through writing and video , elaborates on the roles each of the coastal and southern cities and states played in domestic slave trade , shaping the economy of the U . S .
Violence and reconstruction
Visitors can learn about Black experiences post-Civil War including the domestic terrorism Blacks faced in their fight for civil rights .
As Blacks protested for rights like voting and attending schools , they were often met with unparalleled violence , with no protection from governing and policing authorities , the museum shows .
Mass lynchings of Black people became customary as white Southerners fought to establish superiority and disenfranchise Blacks .
The lynching exhibit contextualizes the role of the media , as lynchings were public knowledge and often printed in newspapers .
Copies of some of those newspapers are displayed in the museum , one indicating a man was lynched for not saying , “ Mr .” Another triple lynching had been documented in Georgia as “ Lynchers couldn ’ t find the negro they wanted and so took three others .”
Final words of some victims can be seen , some of them refusing to admit any wrongdoing before their deaths .
THE UNTOLD STORIES
The Legacy Museum opened in 2018 on Coosa Street accompanied by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice , a site dedicated to victims of lynchings in the U . S . at 417 Caroline Street ; the new expanded Legacy Museum at 400 North Court Street is 40,000 square feet , four times the size of the former location .
“ The old museum was at capacity most of the time and [ many topics ] hadn ’ t been addressed ,” Stevenson said . “ There was more to the story .”
Some of the key displays in the new museum include :
Transatlantic and Domestic Slave Trade
In contrast to the old museum which focused more on domestic slave trade , the new museum tells the chilling stories of both domestic and transatlantic slave trade .
Holograms of enslaved women , men and children locked in various cells can be seen during slave trade exhibits .
Cullman magazine | SPRING 2022
45