The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration
The Legacy Museum
Founded by the Equal Justice Initiative, this museum uses immersive exhibits to tell the story of racial injustice in America, from the slave trade through lynching and segregation to mass incarceration.
The Legacy Museum opened in 2018 and moved into an expanded building on its current site in 2021. The area nearby was once a slave warehouse and trading district in Montgomery. The exhibition opens with the transatlantic slave trade, moves through post-Civil War lynching terror, Jim Crow segregation, and the civil rights movement, and reaches today's mass incarceration. Using holographic projections, oral histories, and thousands of jars of soil collected from lynching sites, it is emotionally powerful. Admission includes the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Freedom Monuments Park, with shuttle buses between sites. Allow at least 2–3 hours. The museum is closed on Tuesdays.
Opening hours
Approx. Wed–Mon 09:00–17:00; closed Tuesdays
Nearby sights
- Hank Williams Museum
- Riverfront Park
- Old Alabama Town
- Court Square Fountain
- Rosa Parks Museum
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
- Freedom Rides Museum
- Civil Rights Memorial & Center