“ The conviction to risk your life to advance justice that flows through this entire space that ’ s what I find the most moving ,” Stevenson said . “ [ They ] held on to their integrity and dignity , even though it cost them their life .”
Segregation and discrimination
The museum details the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other civil rights protests and movements , noting the role of judges , governors and senators in trying to maintain segregation and white supremacy .
Forty-one states made it illegal for interracial white and Black marriages ; in 2000 , Alabama became the last state to allow interracial marriage .
“ This says something really important about how entrenched this narrative of racial difference was ,” Stevenson said .
Museum guests can participate in a simulation of filling out a sample voter registration form containing questions that Blacks were required to answer in order to vote . Some questions included guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar on display and knowing how many bubbles are in a bar of soap .
“ White people who were illiterate could vote , while Black people had to take these so-called literacy tests ,” Stevenson explained . “ They were more than tests on literacy , they posed questions that were unanswerable and that just reveals the commitment people had on maintaining disenfranchisement of African American communities .”
Mass incarceration The museum connects how today ’ s criminal justice system is rooted in the U . S .’ s history of racial injustice .
The legal system was used as tool to suppress the Civil Rights Movement , with more than 3,000 people arrested for sit-ins or protests by 1961 , the museum notes . That , and the “ War on Drugs ” in the ‘ 80s and ‘ 90s , among other racial issues , has led to current day struggles of mass incarceration . Two-thirds of people incarcerated for drugs nationwide are people of color , EJI notes .
The museum attributes the era of racial terror and the mass incarceration of Blacks to the racialization of criminality , as “ whites defended violence against Blacks as necessary to protect property , families and Southern way of life .”
“ The presumption of dangerousness and guilt assigned against Black people is a real burden and challenge ,” Stevenson said . “ If you ’ re Black or brown you will go places in this country where you have to navigate a presumption of dangerousness and guilt .”
Heart-wrenching letters from former and current Black inmates serving life sentences for drug-related crimes , or wrongly convicted and incarcerated children are featured in the museum , many asking for help and justice .
Model visitation booths allow museum visitors to sit , pick up a phone and hear the stories of current or former Black inmates expressing similar sentiments .
“ Our clients had hope and courage to educate people despite the harm they ’ ve suffered as the result of wrongful convictions ,” Stevenson said . “ To create a first-person museum where you get to hear the actual words of enslaved people , people facing lynchings , people who dealt with segregation , people who have been incarcerated , those are really important because I don ’ t think that anybody can be more persuasive about the harm of injustice than the people directly impacted .”
Mug shots of those arrested during the Montgomery Bus Boycott .
A HISTORY THAT MUST BE TALKED ABOUT
The self-guided museum tour concludes with a large reflection room with music and pictures of activists who risked their lives for Black civil rights .
Stevenson said he wants people to leave the museum encouraged , inspired , and he hopes the experience will go a long way toward eliminating distorted and inaccurate views of Black people .
“ We as a community and nation have a role to play . I think most Germans who are not Jewish will tell you that they are at a better place by reckoning honestly with the legacy of the Holocaust ,” Stevenson said . “ I want all Americans to be able to have pride in their community , uncompromised by the dirty secret that we don ’ t talk about which is the lynchings , enslavement or segregation . When we commit to that different future , we can all be truly connected and truly joined in kind of a new vision of what it means to be a citizen .”
Admission to both the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum is $ 5 . Pannie-George ’ s Kitchen and bookstore is also onsite for guests to visit . The museum and memorial are open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a . m . to 5 p . m .
46 Cullman magazine | SPRING 2022