Wooden steps descend to the memorial’s sloping ground.

An inscription by The Equal Justice Initiative.

The memorial’s sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas was inspired by mass incarceration.

Artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo created a sculpture on slavery.

Surrounding the memorial park are 800 columns awaiting adoption by their respective counties.

Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) conceived the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

The memorial’s wooden path unexpectedly slopes so that visitors experience the hanging columns from below. Each corten-steel column corresponds to a county where a lynching occurred.

Each column is inscribed with the names of a county and of known local victims.

EJI founder Bryan Stevenson.