Nationally Acclaimed Musicians Will Celebrate EJI Museum and Memorial Opening

Newly announced performers include Dave Matthews, Jon Batiste, Tasha Cobbs, Robert Glasper, Valerie June, Greg Phillinganes and the Alabama State University Choir to join The Roots, Usher, Common, Brittany Howard and Kirk Franklin for the Concert for Peace & Justice

The Equal Justice Initiative is pleased to announce seven new performers joining the already steller lineup for The Concert For Peace and Justice.

Dave Matthews will be joined by Jon Batiste, Tasha Cobbs, Robert Glasper, Valerie June,

Greg Phillinganes, and the Alabama State University Choir for the concert on Friday, April 27^th. The Roots, Usher, Common, Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes and Kirk Franklin have already been announced. The concert will celebrate the Grand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum and is hosted by the Equal Justice Initiative.

The Friday night concert will be held at the Riverwalk Amphitheater in Downtown Montgomery, Alabama. The concert will begin at 7:30pm, doors open at 6:00PM.

Tickets for The Concert for Peace and Justice can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800.745.3000 and will cost $51.50.

Located on a six-acre site atop a rise overlooking downtown Montgomery, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice will be the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to racial terror lynchings of African Americans and the legacy of slavery and racial inequality in America. The memorial uses sculpture, art, and design to contextualize racial terror and includes a memorial square with 800 six-foot monuments that identify thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United States and the counties and states where this terrorism took place. The memorial aspires to advance truth and reconciliation in the United States by inviting communities to acknowledge the history of racial injustice and confront this history by claiming monuments for their community.

Located on the site of a former warehouse where black people were enslaved in Montgomery, Alabama, the Legacy Museum will become a one-of-a-kind narrative museum housing interactive media, sculpture, videography, and exhibits to immerse visitors in the sights and sounds of the domestic slave trade, racial terrorism, the Jim Crow South, and the world’s largest prison system. The Legacy Museum will be located just a short walk from the memorial.

“There is still so much to be done in this country to recover from our history of racial inequality. I’m hopeful that sites like the ones we are building and conversations like the ones we’re organizing will empower and inspire people to have the courage to create a more just and healthy future. We can achieve more in America when we commit to truth-telling about our past,” said EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson.

The Equal Justice Initiative is hosting several days of programming in conjunction with the opening of these two new public spaces. EJI will present The Justice Summit on April 26-27th, featuring discussions and presentations from leading speakers and thinkers on a range of subjects related to social justice. Registration for The Justice Summit is $25; passes provide access to multiple talks and may be purchased here.

On the evening of Thursday, April 26th, EJI will host an Opening Ceremony to launch the museum and memorial to the public. Tickets for the Opening Ceremony are $10 and can be purchased here. Timed Entry passes are also available for the Memorial and the Museum and those passes can be purchased here.

For more information and entry tickets to the Memorial and Museum please visit museumandmemorial.eji.org.

About EJI

EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Directed since 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and best-selling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We work with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment, and we are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI is dedicated to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We provide legal assistance to innocent death row prisoners, confront abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aid children prosecuted as adults.