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Discover a comprehensive history of the legacy of slavery and racial injustice.
The Legacy of Slavery has its first international exhibition at the Edinburgh International Festival, 8– 30 Aug at The Playfair Library.
About the Exhibition
The Legacy of Slavery is the first international exhibition from one of America’s premier cultural institutions, The Legacy Museum, based in Montgomery, Alabama.
The exhibition tracks the tragic history of millions of African people who were kidnapped and trafficked across the Atlantic to the Americas by European powers for centuries. The Legacy of Slavery explores the multiple harms of slavery, including the false narrative of racial hierarchy that sustained slavery and allowed its evolution into lynching, segregation and racial bigotry that has endured.
Created by the Equal Justice Initiative, exhibition demonstrates that the power of history is in telling the truth.
About the Legacy Sites
Located in Montgomery, Alabama, the Legacy Sites provide visitors an immersive journey through American history.
Collectively, the four spaces—The Legacy Museum, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and Montgomery Square—invite visitors to reckon with our history of racial injustice and begin an era of truth and justice. The Legacy Sites were created by the Equal Justice Initiative.
About the Equal Justice Initiative
Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, EJI is a private nonprofit organisation that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI challenges the death penalty and excessive punishment and provides re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people. EJI also works with communities that have been marginalised by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment through its Anti-Hunger Program and health clinic.
EJI is also committed to changing the narrative about race in America. In addition to creating and operating The Legacy Sites, EJI produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning calendar, and short films that explore our nation’s history of racial injustice.
Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned.
Further Information
The Legacy Sites
Journey through American history and explore EJI's four Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Alabama.
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
EJI works to expose racial bias in the criminal legal system. Seeing firsthand how excessive punishment, racial discrimination, and inequality are deeply rooted in America’s history of racial injustice inspired EJI to create the Legacy Sites. By offering these unique spaces for people to gather, learn, and reflect on our history and its legacy, EJI hopes to foster a new era of truth and justice in America.
EJI Reports
EJI’s reports explore America’s history of racial injustice from enslavement and racial terror lynching to segregation and mass incarceration. They reveal how history shapes the United States’s criminal legal system today.
A History of Racial Injustice Calendar
EJI designed A History of Racial Injustice as a set of tools for learning more about people and events in American history that are critically important but not well known. When we engage truthfully with our history, we are better equipped to address contemporary issues.
Further Reading
Read the Equal Justice Initiative’s newest book, The Legacy Sites: A History of Racial Injustice, published by Phaidon/Monacelli. The book is available for purchase at the Edinburgh International Festival Box Office.
Watch to learn more about the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice,Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and Montgomery Square.
Find more video content about EJI and the Legacy Sites on YouTube.
Follow EJI and the Legacy Sites
EJI: Instagram, Facebook, X,Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, YouTube
Legacy Sites: Instagram, Facebook, X, Threads, Bluesky
