5.0National Memorial for Peace and Justice(536 reviews) - Hits like a punch in your stomach Thursday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Historic Sites • Monuments & Statues
I visited many important sites from the civil rights movement during this recent trip through Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery. None had as much an impact as my visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The layout is very simple, but so powerful. As you enter you pass through the 816 columns (each representing a county where a racial lynching was recorded). 816 counties in 32 states as I was told while here. The first columns are at ground level, just like tombstones. As you move through the museum, the columns are gradually raised, until the end where they are high off the ground, as lynched bodies would appear. Outside there is a second set of columns, which I believe are laid out to represent coffins. I spent about 2 hours here and the $5 admission (yes, only $5) includes entry into to the nearby Legacy Museum, which was almost as important. I will definitely visit again the next time I am here.See more..
The names of 40 people killed in the battle for civil rights between 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation, and 1968, the year of the assassination of Martin Luther King, are embedded forever in this round, flat, granite sculpture. Water flows gently over the surface of the inspiring memorial, designed by Maya Lin, who also created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.See more..
Grave sites of Hank Williams, his wife, mother and sister in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex. Managed by the Hank Williams Museum. 118 Commerce Street, Montgomery, AL 36104. This is one of the most famous and most visited graves in Alabama.See more..
