The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (also known as the National Lynching Memorial) is located in Montgomery, Alabama. The memorial, which was founded by the Equal Justice Initiative, honors victims of lynching in the United States. The memorial opened on April 26, 2018. It is the first memorial in the U.S. dedicated to the legacy of enslaved African Americans and people terrorized by lynching. The memorial includes 805 hanging steel rectangles which represent each of the counties where a documented lynching took place in the U.S. Historical records indicate more than 4,400 people were lynched in the U.S. between 1877 to 1950. These public acts of racial violence, which took place in 20 states, were intended to instill fear in African American communities. Government leaders at the state and federal levels typically did not intervene to stop these acts of violence. Racial terrorism in the American South led to a significant migration of African Americans out