A merica is a place where the past is still viscerally connected to the present through the stories we share and the histories we suppress. Connection to our origins, to our violent struggles, to the desperation of our hopes, and to the joys of our loving and living, has woven the fabric of the present. It is here our connections prepare us for what is coming.
In this edition entitled (Unseen) America, the artists offer stark reminders of the resilience, tragedy and triumph of our shared history. In confronting our past and sharing our present, these artists weave new meaning into where our connections can take us if we decide to appreciate and nurture them. Whether or not we honor the sacrifices of those who made and make our lives more meaningful, our voices more impactful, and our visions more possible is the choice that lies before us now.
ART
There were 10 million people who were enslaved in this country, and much of what I hope we can do is honor those who struggled and suffered, and those who endured and persevered.
—Bryan Stevenson, EJI
FREEDOM MONUMENT SCULPTURE PARK
In 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative opened the Legacy Museum along with the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, as part of its national effort to create new spaces, markers, and memorials addressing the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation. The triumphant success of those projects spawned a third project, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, also in Montgomery, which opened March 28, 2024.
Overlooking the Alabama River, the Park honors the lives and memories of the roughly 10 million Africans who were enslaved in North America by monumentalizing their courage and resilience and creating a space for learning and reflection. Visitors wandering the 17-acre park encounter newly commissioned works by artists including Alison Saar and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, alongside major sculptures from Wangechi Mutu, Rose B. Simpson, Theaster Gates, and Kehinde Wiley, as well as artifacts, including dwellings relocated from a cotton plantation and a pen where enslaved people were held. More
Film
AMERICAN SYMPHONY
The project intertwines the various threads of American history, culture, sound, and experience into one symphonic piece of music.
American Symphony is an intimately told documentary that explores a year in the life of musician, educator, and humanitarian Jon Batiste as he writes his first symphony for a one-night-only performance at Carnegie Hall as his beloved wife, journalist and best-selling author, Suleika Jaouad, suffers the return of her leukemia. The film premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and received a Best Original Song nomination at the 96th Academy Awards. Written, shot, and edited by Matthew Heineman. Bio of Jon Batiste.
Music
SAMPHA
British singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and Mercury Prize recipient Sampha Lahai Sisay is widely known for his collaborative work with Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Beyoncé, and others. His critically acclaimed debut album, Process (2017), unpacked the anguish of his mother’s premature death to cancer. His second album, Lahai (2023), marks a shift to a brighter and more expansive space inspired by the birth of his daughter in 2020. Delving into subjects like Afrofuturism and particle physics, the artist reflects on human connection and the realization that embracing the unknown and relinquishing control can help one see the true beauty of the world. Listen to “Spirit 2.0,” the album’s lead single.
Featured Writing
Medgar & Myrlie, Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Changed America by Joy-Ann Reid
As the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, and with his wife Myrlie by his side, Medgar Evers was charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to Black voting rights in the country. On June 12, 1963, Evers became the highest-profile victim of a Klan-related assassination of a Black civil rights leader at that time. In the wake of his tragic death, Myrlie carried on their civil rights legacy, writing a book about Medgar’s fight, trying to win a congressional seat, and becoming a leader of the NAACP in her own right. In this groundbreaking and thrilling account of two heroes of the civil rights movement, Joy-Ann Reid uses Medgar and Myrlie’s relationship as a lens through which to explore the on-the-ground work that went into winning basic rights for Black Americans, and the repercussions that still resonate today.
