Wonderful experience! The staff was extremely thoughtful greeting us with cold water bottles at the…read moredoor. They were very patient with our 5 and 7 year olds who asked so many questions that were answered thoroughly. Thank you for being one of the highlights of our historic trip!

This was a true gem! We thoroughly enjoyed touring this beautiful home and chatting with one of the…read morecurators. The furnishings are beautiful and appropriate to the period. We were stunned to learn that the house was moved to its current location in 1921!!!

There are some places you visit, and then there are places that stay with you. The National…read moreMemorial for Peace and Justice is one of those places. Opened in 2018 by the Equal Justice Initiative, this memorial honors more than 4,400 African American men, women, and children who were victims of racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950. It tells a story that is painful, sobering, and absolutely essential to confront. As you enter, the experience is quiet and intentional. Steel rectangular monuments are arranged by state and county, each engraved with the names of victims and the dates they were killed. At first, the columns stand at eye level. You can look directly at the names. But as you continue walking, the ground gradually slopes downward and the columns begin to rise above you. It is impossible not to understand the symbolism. The markers are roughly human-sized. As you descend and look upward, they resemble bodies suspended overhead. That realization hit me deeply. The weight of it -- the scale of it -- settles into your chest. It is heavy. It should be. Along the walls, detailed plaques explain the circumstances behind many of the lynchings. Some victims were murdered by mobs of hundreds or even thousands. Some were killed for reasons so trivial and unjust -- accusations, perceived slights, even something as simple as having a photograph of a white woman. You quickly realize how little it took, and how terrifying daily life must have been for Black Americans living under that constant threat of violence. Near the exit, there is a waterfall installation representing the countless undocumented lynchings -- lives lost that may never be fully known. It is a quiet but powerful reminder that even this memorial cannot capture the entire scope of the tragedy. Outside, each hanging monument is duplicated and laid flat across the grounds. This allows visitors to read each name more closely. I deeply appreciated this thoughtful design choice. Every name is treated with dignity and equality. As you walk among them, you may notice multiple names from the same county on the same date -- entire acts of mob violence frozen in steel. Further along, sculptures and signage from various states and counties acknowledge the history and efforts toward reconciliation. The Equal Justice Initiative encourages each county represented to claim its monument and publicly confront its history. Many have begun to do so. Many still have not. The memorial asks visitors to be respectful and to stay off the grass. There are restrooms available on site. Everything about the space is orderly, intentional, and reverent. This is not an easy place to visit. It is not meant to be. But it is profoundly important. If you are in Montgomery, this is a must-visit. It provides critical context for understanding why the end of slavery, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement were not just historical milestones -- but moral necessities born from immense suffering. I would give this memorial 10 out of 5 stars if I could. Go. Walk slowly. Read the names. Remember.

We visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (NMPJ) on Jan 8, 2026 as part of Road…read moreScholar'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 the only one where photography is allowed. Like with the other two sites, security checkpoint is present and I surrendered my foldable (smartphone) tripod. While the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park has a collection of artwork in a park setting, the entire area of the NMPJ can be seen as a single artwork of many sections, like the long wall mural in Dexter Ave Baptist Church (also in Montgomery; within walking distance from the Legacy Museum). The first section of NMPJ is a large grassy area bordered by walkways, wall-mounted written content on the subject of "from slavery to lynching". and the Nkyinkyim Installation sculpture. I don't know if picnics or napping on the grassy area is allowed. I didn't ask. Walking from this area to the next section took time. The next section, being the memorial temple, is the highlight of NMPJ. An open structure that houses numerous tall tablets resembling coffins. Each tablet bears the names of county and state, followed by the names of lynching victims and their respective dates of death. Initially, the tablets look like they are resting on the floor. At the center of the temple is a grassy square accessible from multiple points. Standing at the center of the square, the visitor can see the sheer masses of deaths memorialized within the temple. (Photos and footages are found on my YouTube channel @1Somber. Look for video title "Day 5: National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park" in playlist "2026-1: The Civil Rights Movement - Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham".) At one end of the structure, the path turns right to a corridor that slopes down. I then realized that the tablets are hanging from the ceiling. When the corridor reaches the bottom level, the tables are hanging over my head. Mounted on opposite walls are panels, each mentions the known "justification" for the victim's death. Why only the bottommost area of the panel is used is a mystery. I hope in time more names will be added to these panels. The final wall has an inscription draped by a waterfall states that the "victims of racial terror lynchings... whose deaths cannot be documented... whose names will never be known... are all honored here." Leaving memorial temple, I came to Monument Park. In this area, the tablets take on the shape and size of coffins, and lay on the ground rows after rows on the left and the right of the walkway. Like the tablets at the memorial temple, each bears the names of county and state, followed by the names of lynching victims and their respective dates of death. After Monument Park comes the "Guided By Justice" sculpture, and then Community Park. Tablets shaped like signposts line up in a single file to one side, and act as shoulders for the visitor walkway. Each has written details of specific lynchings. I followed these "signposts" and arrived at the "Arise" sculpture. The path then leads back to starting point. Visitors can either go for another round or leave. Our tour guide said that a visit at the NMPJ can be done in 45 minutes. I say, "Take all the time you want." The patrolling staff is sparse and there's no hurry. The $5 admission price covers all three EJI sites. Although I appreciated the NMPJ, particularly capturing a considerable amount of photos and footages, 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 Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and vice versa. See attached image for further details. At 12:56pm, after visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (NMPJ), I showed up at Boat Launch. There was a security checkpoint. I was told to turn over my tripod before getting on the boat. The big, burly bespectacled guy in the suit claimed that tripods could be used to vandalize the sculptures, and I could take the boat back and to this pier to get it back. He gave no explanation as to how a tripod would be a hazardous or dangerous object on a boat ride itself. The Sculpture Park has its own security checkpoint where I would turn over the tripod, and I wasn't planning on coming back to this pier just to pick up my tripod. It would be a waste of time. So I waited for the shuttle to take me back to the Legacy Museum after stopping over at NMPJ. When I finally arrived at Sculpture Park, 45 minutes of my time was wasted. This limited the time spent there. There was no necessity to have security checkpoint at Boat Launch when Sculpture Park has its own security checkpoint. Until EJI Legacy updates their policy to one that makes sense, this EJI site gets no more than three stars.

This a a wonderful community library and more people should utilize it. They do not allow cell…read morephone use inside the main part of the library, so remember to put your phone on silent as to not disturb the other patrons. They have a nice sized event/multipurpose room for private use. I was here for a Doula meet and greet event. The library stays open fairly late which is nice to know. I also love seeing one of the benches from the Book Bench project from 3 years ago.

Such an amazing day on the grounds of the Capital, uniting with people that believe in equality and…read morethe rights for fair democracy in this state and country. We are better together!

On our journey to visit all 50 capital cities and capitol buildings, we landed in Montgomery,…read moreAlabama this day. The building is a gorgeous and brilliant white. It sits upon a hill. As you approach, you are greeted with a large wooden door that's quite heavy to pull open. Security is quick and courteous. After we received wristbands, we were orientated on the history of the building and grounds. Points of interest include the room where the 7 state leaders met to vote for secession from the Union and the room where Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederacy. The seemingly floating cantilevered stairs leading to these rooms were designed and engineered by a former slave. The gift shop is large with a wonderful collection of Alabama pottery, jewelry, housewares, food items, and more. Bathrooms are clean and well kept.

The ladies here are so nice. I called with questions and they were informative, helpful, and…read morepatient with me each time. I even infor.ed her I was going to drive up just to submit my form as I was super nervous a out messing it up somehow. When, I got there, she was very nice. The state troopers were also nice inside the building and the ones at the capitol who guided me where to go exactly. I had a very pleasant experience today with everyone involved which was great as I was having a high anxiety day.