EJI has documented nearly 6,500 racial terror lynchings in America between 1865 and 1950. Thousands more Black people whose deaths may never be discovered have been killed by white mob lynchings.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
The National Memorial is a sacred space for truth telling and reflection about racial terrorism and its legacy.
On a hilltop overlooking Montgomery is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, humiliated by racial segregation, and presumed guilty and dangerous.
More than 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 are remembered here. Their names are engraved on more than 800 corten steel monuments—one for each county where a racial terror lynching took place—that form the main structure of the memorial at the heart of this six-acre site.
Begin to recover and heal from racial terror by vowing to never repeat it
Near the entrance to the National Memorial, the Peace and Justice Memorial Garden is a serene and beautiful setting for reflection and remembrance.
Located at 414 Caroline Street, across from the entrance to the memorial, the Peace and Justice Memorial Center hosts community events with acclaimed artists, writers, and scholars.
The National Memorial documents the most active era of racial terror lynchings from 1877 to 1950. The monument at the Peace and Justice Memorial Center commemorates 24 people who were killed in racially motivated attacks during the 1950s, including Emmett Till.
The National Memorial expanded in 2022 to celebrate hundreds of community coalitions across the country that have partnered with EJI to install historical markers that memorialize victims of racial terror lynchings.
EJI partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence by collecting soil at lynching sites. Learn more about our Community Remembrance Project.
Confronting Racial Terror Lynching in America
Confronting Racial Terror Lynching in America
The 1866 Memphis Massacre is one of more than 30 mass lynchings documented during the Reconstruction era.
The National Memorial documents more than 4,500 racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950, the most active era of racial terror lynchings in America.
Many Black veterans were targeted for mistreatment, violence, and murder during the lynching era due to their race and military experience. Learn more about the culture of targeted violence and social humiliation facing Black veterans.
African Americans combatted the terror of lynching through grassroots activism. To thwart lynching attempts, Black people risked serious harm to hide fugitives, organized sentinels to guard prisoners against lynch mobs, and engaged in armed self-defense.
Racially motivated violence and lynchings continued after 1950, often targeting early civil rights leaders and Black people whose success challenged white supremacy.
Racial terror lynchings were violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black people throughout the country. Tolerated and often aided by law enforcement and elected officials and designed to re-establish racial hierarchy after the Civil War, lynching was terrorism.
Racial terror lynching left thousands dead, significantly marginalized Black people politically, financially, and socially, and inflicted deep traumatic wounds on survivors, witnesses, and the entire African American community that fester to this day.
Publicly confronting the truth about our history is the first step towards recovery and reconciliation.
