America at – Bryan Stevenson says Montgomery’s transformation—from Confederate memorials without slavery acknowledgments to a legacy built through the Equal Justice Initiative—shows how hard it is for the country to face its own history. As the U.S. marks its 250th anniver
A sculpture at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, depicts the inhumanity of the Atlantic slave trade. The work was created by Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo.
In the 1980s, when Bryan Stevenson moved to Montgomery, the city held dozens of Confederate monuments and memorials, but it had nothing commemorating slavery.
Today, much of that landscape has changed. Over the last decade. Stevenson—now the executive director of the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative—has helped transform parts of Montgomery through markers acknowledging the legacy of slavery. He built the Legacy Sites: a museum and memorials that commemorate the nation’s history of lynching. enslavement. and racial terror across the South.
Stevenson’s argument is blunt, and it’s rooted in the belief that memory isn’t optional. “We have to now fight to correct the historic record. to have an honest accounting of what happened to our parents and grandparents and their parents. ” he says. “Because without an honest accounting, we will not make it to the next step.”.
This week, host Al Letson travels to Montgomery on Reveal to interview Stevenson as America marks its 250th anniversary. The conversation centers on why memorializing the nation’s darkest chapters matters—and why Stevenson frames the current struggle over racial justice as generational.
The stakes, in his telling, are sharpened by the Trump administration’s effort to erase slavery from America’s museums. As Stevenson describes it, the battle is not only about statues or exhibits. It is about whether the country will document what it did. and what it did to people whose lives were reduced to property. terror. and silence.
In Montgomery. the shift from monuments to acknowledgment has been slow work. carried out through a museum. memorials. and markers designed to force an answer. At 250. Stevenson’s warning lands with particular weight: an “honest accounting” is presented not as a moral preference. but as the condition for the next step—political. civic. and human.
Bryan Stevenson Equal Justice Initiative Montgomery Alabama National Memorial for Peace and Justice Legacy Sites memorials slavery lynching racial terror Kwame Akoto-Bamfo Atlantic slave trade Reveal Al Letson Trump administration
So what, they want everyone to feel guilty forever? I guess monuments don’t “count” unless they say slavery in big letters.
I didn’t realize Montgomery had a ton of Confederate stuff with no slavery stuff. That’s kinda wild. Also the part about “erase slavery from museums” sounds like exactly the kind of political nonsense people keep doing.
Wait I thought Confederate monuments were taken down because people were offended, not because of “historic record.” Like the article is blaming Trump but maybe it’s just funding or something? Either way the statue thing—whatever, it’s still the past. Who decides what’s honest?
250 and we still can’t face it… makes sense when you see how long this country drags its feet. The Legacy Sites for lynching and racial terror is important though, like at least they’re actually naming what happened. But I’m confused how Trump “erasing slavery” works if museums already have it? Feels like they’re arguing over wording.