CBS Sunday Morning Features EJI's New Freedom Monument Sculpture Park

CBS News Sunday Morning featured EJI's Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, which explores the legacy of slavery and the lives of enslaved people through contemporary artworks, first-person narratives, and historical artifacts. Opening this month in Montgomery, Alabama, our newest Legacy Site "mixes artifacts of slavery, like 170-year-old plantation dwellings and a whipping post, with powerful works of artistic imagination."

The enslavement of 10 million Black people shaped the legal, cultural, social, and economic character of the U.S. in profound ways. But the history of enslavement and the lives of enslaved people have often been ignored.

Freedom Monument Sculpture Park explores the institution of slavery, the lives of enslaved people, and the legacy of slavery in this country-and it honors the millions of people who endured the brutality of slavery and created a more hopeful future for this country.

The 17-acre site overlooking the Alabama River joins our award-winning Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice as the latest addition to EJI's Legacy Sites. The three sites-all located in downtown Montgomery-offer a powerful experience for visitors.

"I believe this will become a special place for millions of people who want to reckon with the history of slavery and honor the lives of people who endured tremendous hardship but still found ways to love in the midst of sorrow," said EJI director Bryan Stevenson. "Many of us are the heirs to that extraordinary perseverance and hope. There is a lot to learn at this site and we want everyone to experience it."

The site presents powerful stories of survival, perseverance, hope, and resistance to the dehumanization that slavery created.

From a brief history about Indigenous Peoples to an examination of Africa before and after the arrival of Europeans, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park puts the history of slavery in context.

Sections of the park are dedicated to the transatlantic trade of African people and the domestic trade of enslaved people in the U.S., the laws of slavery in America, the labor of enslaved people, and escape, rebellion, and resistance to slavery. The narrative journey includes love, death, family, and faith.

The National Monument to Freedom, standing 43 feet tall and 155 feet long, marks the culmination of the journey through the sculpture park.

Using research from the 1870 Census, the first in which formerly enslaved Black people were able to officially record a surname, the National Monument individually lists over 122,000 surnames that nearly five million Black people adopted in 1870 and that tens of millions of people now carry across generations.

Visitors can learn more about the counties and states associated with the names of formerly enslaved people and use kiosks to advance genealogical research and trace family histories at our visitor center.

The art collection at the Sculpture Park is one of the most significant narrative collections in the world, a curated effort featuring newly commissioned works by Charles Gaines, Alison Saar, and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo alongside major sculptures from Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Rose B. Simpson, Theaster Gates, Kehinde Wiley, and Hank Willis Thomas.

"Artists have the ability to depict the humanity and the dignity of people, even in the midst of something brutal and violent," Mr. Stevenson told CBS. "It's a tough subject. It's a challenging subject. And we wanted to use art to help people manage the weight of this history and engage in a more complete way with the lives of enslaved people."

The Alabama River was home to Indigenous Peoples who occupied these lands for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century-a history that is acknowledged at Freedom Monument Sculpture Park.

The river flows through Alabama's Black Belt counties, where some of the largest populations of enslaved people in the country were forced to work on large cotton plantations along the river.

Rail became the most common mode of moving and selling enslaved people in the 1850s. Hundreds of enslaved Black people arrived in Montgomery each day. By 1860, nearly 400,000 Black people were enslaved on or near the Alabama River.

The Alabama River also has an enduring civil rights legacy. It flows under the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where courageous people risked their lives to demand voting rights for African Americans.

Through its significant location, artwork, and historical research and context, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park is an unforgettable space for visitors to deepen their understanding of the institution of slavery and its legacy while honoring the lives of the people who were enslaved.