We visited the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park (FMSP) on Jan 8, 2026 as part of Road Scholar's "The Civil Rights Movement - Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham" program. It is one of the three Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Legacy sites in Montgomery, AL, and one of two where photography is not allowed. Like with the other two sites, security checkpoint is present and I surrendered my foldable (smartphone) tripod.
As the name indicates, the FMSP has a collection of sculptures, as well as monuments and restored (to original condition) habitats. Greeting visitors at the entrance is "Brick House" (by Simone Leigh). You can take pictures of everything within the entrance so long as you remain outside; once you step in, photography is no longer permitted. The staff will tell you so. In fact, the staff had told me so at least twice when I tried to sneak a photo shot while inside. That didn't stop other visitors from taking photos of various artwork and posting them here. My walk through the park was (sadly) devoid of visual records until I arrived at the National Monument to Freedom.
If you are an art connoisseur, you'll enjoy the FMSP the most (out of the three EJI sites). The artwork is sheer beauty, albeit painfully crafted (no pun intended). Each is unique. Yet together, they collectively express the same message.
The quality of the artwork alone makes everyone of them deserving of all the recognition (by cameras). The National Monument to Freedom is located near the end of the part trail. The staff informed me that photography from here onwards is permitted. In this respect, the FMSP is slightly better than the Legacy Museum.
After the park, I headed to the visitor center. No prohibition of photography whatsoever. In front of the entrance is a statue of Harriet Tubman standing on a raised rock, holding a star with her right hand reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, and looking down at a young girl kneeling by the rock and looking up at her. Inside the visitor center, there are consoles for visitors to know more about the subject matter, paintings on the walls, and a theater screening a documentary. I did not find out the title but it showed two individuals recounting anecdotes about slavery.
It took me about 40 minutes to get through FMSP. An art connoisseur would spend considerably more time. I would appreciate it more if photography was permitted because all the artworks deserves maximum recognition. Like the other EJU sites, I do not give this place 5 stars because of the unnecessary security checkpoint to do the boat ride from Boat Launch at 101 Morris Street to FMSP, and vice versa. See attached image for further details. read more