Amy Liz

The Equal Justice Initiative is building a memorial for lynching victims — and it’s about time.

The Equal Justice Initiative announced on Tuesday that it will build the first-ever national memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, Alabama. Titled “Memorial to Peace and Justice,” the EJI project will sit on six acres of land that used to be a public housing project in Montgomery. 

The structure will include the thousands of lynching victims’ names on concrete columns, which will represent hundreds of U.S. counties where the acts took place. The memorial will also coincide with the opening of a museum.

“I like to show women who exist in solitude but do not suffer. They are not depressed or crying. Rather [they] are safe, exalting in the sense of enjoying the company of just herself.”