Montgomery Square - The Decade That Changed the World

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

EJI opened Montgomery Square in March 2026 to tell the story of Montgomery's decade of struggle, from the bus boycott of 1955 to the voting rights march of 1965. It sits on Montgomery Street, the road marchers walked on the final leg of their journey from Selma to the Capitol on March 25, 1965.

The mostly outdoor square is built around a large oak tree that stood through both the boycott and the march. A long timeline begins with the daily humiliations of segregated buses, pillars display actual segregation laws, and photographs from the era show the people who filled these streets. A sculpture by Basil Watson honors the boycotters, and one by Hank Willis Thomas turns an arrest number into a badge of honor. In Heroes Hall, films share first-person stories from Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, Jo Ann Robinson, Fred Gray, John Lewis and Amelia Boynton Robinson.

EJI says admission is free and no ticket is needed. It stands beside EJI's Elevation Convening Center and Hotel.

Getting here: Walk north to Court Square and west along Montgomery Street, past the Rosa Parks Museum, to number 540, about 12 minutes.

Did you know?: One of the pillars displays a segregation law that made it illegal for Black and white people to play checkers together.

Photo op: Frame the great oak with the timeline behind it: one of the few living witnesses still standing on the march route.

More on Wikipedia: Selma to Montgomery marches · Hank Willis Thomas · Amelia Boynton Robinson · E. D. Nixon

Montgomery Square - The Decade That Changed the World

Stops on this tour