Delaware history joins new Equal Justice Initiative site
HCA staff attend dedication of the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
In honor of Juneteenth, a small group of Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (HCA) staff members journeyed to Montgomery, Alabama, for the dedication of the new Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. This park is the newest addition to The Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Sites, which are museums dedicated to 400 years of American history covering enslavement, racial terrorism, codified segregation, mass incarceration and the stories of courage, resistance and resilience demonstrated throughout those 400 years.
“The entire experience was life-changing in that I learned more about enslavement and its legacy in three days than I did in any classroom or textbook throughout my lifetime,” said HCA Deputy Director Amy Golden-Shepherd. “I am inspired to share what I have learned and continue to advocate for the sharing of inclusive history. I highly recommend that every American citizen visit these sites for an experience like none other.”
The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park overlooks the Alabama River where tens of thousands of enslaved people were trafficked. The site includes immersive exhibits, breath-taking sculpture art and artifacts to honor the lives of the 10 million Black people who were enslaved in America. One of those artifacts includes a whipping post that sat on public display in Georgetown for years before its removal in 2020. Since then, it has been placed in the care of HCA and is now on loan from the State of Delaware.
“HCA believes that this is an important step for Delaware as we reckon with our past and choose to use this relic of suffering and intimidation as a tool that will educate hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world,” said Golden-Shepherd, who was joined by HCA’s Engagement & Collections Manager Meg Hutchins and Collections Manager Kira Lyle on the journey.
The whipping post from Delaware is placed between massive blocks engraved with racially driven laws of punishment and artist Hank Willis Thomas’s “Strike,” depicting two huge, chrome arms thrusting out of the ground in a struggle — leaving the artifact from the First State to feel almost dwarfed in comparison.
“Placing this object in a broader context of enslavement, torture and resilience in the face of such suffering is incredibly moving,” said Hutchins. “Allowing visitors to feel the legacy of this history leaves most speechless. I am proud that we are taking such a big step toward telling the true and full history and Delaware’s place in it.”
Loaning the artifact, which loomed so large as a monument to hatred in its former public place, to EJI’s Freedom Monument Sculpture Park is a meaningful way to share that true history, Lyle said.
“Rather than a solitary object representing the history of corporal punishment in Delaware, the piece lends interpretive power to a national story told across centuries,” said Lyle. “While displaying the piece outside is imperfect from a conservation standpoint, the narrative impact is invaluable.”
The dedication ceremony was held in front of a striking, 43-foot-tall, 155-foot-long wall that holds more than 120,000 unique surnames selected by millions of Black families and recorded on the 1870 census after emancipation. Guests were sobered by the sounds of a nearby train rumbling by much as it did during the 1800s, while listening to inspiring remarks from Bryan Stevenson, as well as soulful musical numbers by Wynton Marsalis, classical clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers. The day-long celebration also included panels featuring Ava Duvernay, Darren Walker, Hank Willis Thomas and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, film screenings of Origin, Purlie Victorious and Exhibiting Forgiveness, and a concert featuring Esperanza Spalding, Samara Joy, Wynton Marsalis, Lizz Wright and Cory Henry.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI and the Legacy Sites were founded by and are led by Milton’s own Bryan Stevenson.
To learn more about the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, check out this article from Smithsonian Magazine. To learn more about the Equal Justice Initiative, go to eji.org.