Freedom Monument Sculpture Park - Names Chosen in Freedom

A stop on Montgomery: Legacy and Civil Rights Road, a free self-guided tour.

EJI opened this 17-acre park on the banks of the Alabama River in 2024, and the setting is deliberate. Before the Civil War, boats on this river brought enslaved people to Montgomery's wharf, and from there they were marched up Commerce Street to be sold. Today you can arrive the same way, on a short boat ride from the downtown riverfront.

At the heart of the park stands the National Monument to Freedom, a wall about 43 feet tall and 155 feet long carved with some 122,000 surnames. They are the family names chosen by 4.7 million formerly enslaved people counted in the 1870 census, the first in which they were all listed as free. Around it you will find dwellings brought from nearby plantations, objects made by enslaved craftspeople, and sculpture by artists including Simone Leigh, Kehinde Wiley, Alison Saar and Charles Gaines.

Admission is included in the Legacy Sites pass. Walk slowly along the wall and look for a name you know.

Getting here: Ride the free Legacy Sites shuttle from the museum, or take the 15-minute boat ride that leaves from the riverfront at 101 Morris Street; the park's visitor center has free parking.

Did you know?: QR codes near the monument let you look up other African Americans who carried the same surname in later census records.

Photo op: Step back onto the lawn facing the National Monument to Freedom so the whole wall of names fills the frame, then move in close for a single row of surnames.

More on Wikipedia: Freedom Monument Sculpture Park · Alabama River · Simone Leigh · Kehinde Wiley

Freedom Monument Sculpture Park - Names Chosen in Freedom

Stops on this tour