Sandwiched between Montgomery, Alabama's labyrinthian train tracks and winding rivers, a long-abandoned land area is now repurposed into a physical manifestation of lawyer and social activist Bryan Stevenson's vision of reckoning with the tortured history of slavery: the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park.
Within the 17-acre-big site, set to be available to the public later this month, are about 50 sculptures from acclaimed contemporary artists like Kehinde Wiley, Simone Leigh, and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, all of whom aimed to evoke America's painful past.
Stevenson told CBS that artists have the unique ability to showcase "the humanity and the dignity of people" amid events that are "brutal and violent," and the park is a collection of such artists' works.
He added that this initiative is his collective's way of tackling an otherwise "challenging subject" head-on and helping people come to terms with a past intertwined "with the lives of enslaved people" in an artistic form that is more easily digested and confronted.
(Photo : The Legacy Sites/Freedom Monument Sculpture Park)
Equal Justice Initiative's New Initiative Highlighting Racial Injustices
The park is the latest initiative by Stevenson and his similarly Montgomery-based organization, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), of which he is the founder and director.
Across three decades, Stevenson and his team have helped people on death row through legal services and have overturned over 140 convictions and sentences to date. According to him, understanding today's racial injustices starts by confronting the past where it's rooted.
So far, EJI has built three cultural sites in line with its mission, which includes the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Sculpture Park, all of which revolve around America's history of lynching.
As per Stevenson, all he hopes to do is "honor" the 10 million individuals who were once enslaved in the country and their struggles, suffering, and eventual perseverance.
Confronting the Past Through the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
Would-be park visitors will begin the experience across the Alabama River, the same system of streams that tens of thousands of enslaved Africans once took when they first arrived in the country by boats.
Stevenson said that these people marched for over half a mile soon after they landed. He also explained a routinely occurring heartbreaking event called "the weeping time," where the enslaved people constantly feared being separated from their loved ones.
The park itself showcases a mix of historical artifacts and artistic installations that provide a glimpse into this painful past, including a 170-year-old plantation dwelling, a whipping post, and a myriad of thought-evoking sculptures.
One notable piece is by American conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, which is entitled "Strike." The silver-hued sculpture standing half as tall as the trees that surround it depicts two arms, one holding a baton and one stopping the "strike" of the other.
This particular piece represents the violence of slavery and the eventual resistance that was propped up to oppose it.
About the piece, Thomas said: "In this case, the gesture of just stopping the brutality begins the opportunity for us to find peace."
For more information on the park, including visitation schedules, visit The Legacy Sites website by clicking here.
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