The National Memorial for Peace & Justice
200best ES
MASS Design Group
2018
Type
Memorial
Tags
memory spaces , 200Best
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The first memorial for victims of racism and slavery in the United States was the result of the efforts of the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative. After extensive research work on racial terrorism in the south of the United States, the organisation contacted Mass Design Group, with whom it began a participative and shared process that culminated in the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Situated on top of a small hill, somehow reminiscent of a Greek temple, the visitor can see a series of regularly arranged Corten steel blocks. When visitors reach the top, instead of finding themselves in a place from which to observe the surroundings, the ground drops below and the visitor realises that most of the blocks are suspended and do not even touch the ground. Each block stands for a place where racial lynchings have taken place and is inscribed with the names of the victims. This memorial aims to honour the victims as well as to initiate a dialogue on the problem of racism, which needs to be spread throughout the country. To this end, the memorial has copies of the monumental blocks along its perimeter, which are waiting to be claimed and installed at the sites of the lynchings as a commemorative symbol.