EJI Announces the Opening of Montgomery Square
03.06.26
We are thrilled to announce the opening of Montgomery Square, a new site dedicated to the Montgomery decade that changed the world. From 1955 to 1965, Black residents with extraordinary courage and determination stood up against racial injustice here in Montgomery and sparked a movement that transformed our country and the world.
Montgomery Square builds on our existing Legacy Sites, and like the Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, it is animated by the power of place. The mostly outdoor site is located next to the Elevation Convening Center and Hotel, at the top of Montgomery Street—the very street where tens of thousands of people marched on the final leg of the historic Selma to Montgomery March on March 25, 1965.
Visiting Montgomery Square means literally walking in the footsteps of the women, men, and children whose bravery and determination in the face of violent opposition led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
“We are extremely excited to open this site, which explores how Montgomery created a new chapter for democracy and justice in America,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson. “The movement birthed by Montgomery’s residents in 1955, culminating in a triumphant march in 1965, changed the cultural, legal, social, and economic landscape of this nation.”
Sculptures from acclaimed artists Hank Willis Thomas and Basil Watson and photography from the era illustrate the deeply researched narrative about Montgomery’s pivotal role in creating a new era of greater democracy and opportunity in America.
Visitors will hear from the people who led and fueled this remarkable movement inside Heroes Hall, where we are screening new documentary films that feature Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, Jo Ann Robinson, Fred D. Gray, John Lewis, Jo Ann Bland, Sheyann Webb Christburg, Amelia Boynton Robinson, and Lynda Blackmon Lowery, along with interviews and speeches from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Square is on Montgomery Street, where voting rights activists marched on the final leg of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965.
A sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas celebrates an arrest number as a badge of honor.
Basil Watson’s sculpture depicts proud participants in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for over a year.
The oak tree at the center of Montgomery Square bore witness to the Montgomery decade that changed the world.
A massive timeline details this momentous decade, starting with the widespread and constant humiliation and threats of violence that Black residents of Montgomery experienced on segregated city buses every day for decades leading up to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Pillars display actual segregation laws that created one of the most rigid and extensive systems of racial segregation in the world—the law even barred Black and white people from playing checkers together.
The relentless, often violent opposition from tens of thousands of white residents who organized to uphold racial segregation in Montgomery is also documented at Montgomery Square, where visitors can read the words of faith leaders, elected officials, journalists, and prominent members of the Montgomery establishment who vowed to “forever stand like a rock against social equality, intermarriage, and mixing of the races in the schools.”
Montgomery Square is built around a giant oak tree that witnessed as thousands of Black people walked the city’s streets to end segregation in 1955 and tens of thousands risked their lives to end Black disenfranchisement in 1965.
The physical site is informed by hundreds of hours of research that we present in our new report, The Montgomery Decade That Changed the World: 1955 to 1965. Together with our Montgomery Square website, the report highlights the overlooked historical context and the unsung heroes of this decade in Montgomery who are not well known.
We hope these resources will give educators, students, historians, local residents, and visitors to Montgomery deeper insight into the city’s historic role in lifting up human rights and launching a worldwide movement towards racial justice.
“This history needs to be studied and understood by every American,” Mr. Stevenson said. “We are proud to make learning about this critical decade more accessible to everyone at Montgomery Square.”
Montgomery Square is now open from 9 am until 6 pm Wednesday through Monday. Admission is free and no ticket is required.
We hope you will join us here in Montgomery and experience the power of confronting injustice in this place, fueled by the deep knowledge gained at the Legacy Sites.