MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The national lynching memorial in Alabama will begin opening to visitors at night, offering a new way to see a moving attraction that has drawn thousands.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery will start operating from 9 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The founder of the organization that built the memorial, Bryan Stevenson, said the attraction is particularly poignant at night.
“So much of this violence was done under darkness,” Stevenson, who heads Equal Justice Initiative, told al.com.
More than 750,000 people have visited the outdoor memorial and an accompanying museum since it opened in 2018, according to the organization. The Alabama Tourism Department named the memorial and museum the state’s top attraction last year.
The memorial includes the names of more than 4,000 people who were killed in acts of racial terror from the the 1870s to the 1950s. Their names are etched on about 800 steel slabs, and there are also statues to document racial oppression.
Nighttime visitors will receive a small flashlight to help the explore, illuminate the names and see sculptures that are part of the memorial.
“The sculptures really have a different power when you see them sort of in shadow,” Stevenson said. “You get a sense of not fully appreciating all that’s there.”
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