9/17/17
The HAND Foundation has helped fund Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI's) national memorial for lynching victims, scheduled to open in Alabama next year. In contrast to Confederacy in the American South, the mass atrocities committed against African Americans have yet to be culturally recognized. The memorial will be the first of its magnitude, with hopes to spark honest conversation, reconciliation, and healing.
Overlooking the City of Montgomery, the memorial consists of 800 columns, one for each county where lynchings took place. The columns are monuments suspended from above, inscribed with the names of over 4,000 known victims. But the design is not static. Outside the memorial are 800 matching columns, encouraging each county to find their monument and return it to the place where lynchings occurred. With pieces spread across the United States, the memorial will serve as a public testament of those who have acknowledged the truth and those who have not. LEARN MORE