Remembering Differently

• Published in: Performance research Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. 14 - 23
• Main Author: Webber-Heffernan, Shalon T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Ltd 01-12-2023
• Subjects: Archives & records; Fairs & exhibitions; Imprisonment; Mass incarceration; Museums; Racial violence; United States > US
• ISSN: 1352-8165; 1469-9990
• DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2023.2385242

This article examines the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) Community Remembrance Project, which memorializes the era of racial terror by collecting soil from lynching sites across the United States. This project is a key part of the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. By inserting a new narrative into a landscape dominated by Confederate monuments, the Community Remembrance Project challenges the conflicted memoryscape, particularly in the Southern US, and demands recognition of a past that continuously informs the present. The article argues that the soil collection creates a space where memories of racial violence can be actively engaged, functioning as a living archive that evokes powerful memories and hauntings. By exploring the role and care of the soil, the article reveals the potential of this archive to foster a new kind of remembrance. Additionally, the article explores the Legacy Museum’s permanent exhibition From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, which uses a dramatic layout to illustrate the ongoing effects of racial injustice, guiding visitors from slavery to modern mass incarceration. This exhibition confronts visitors with the legacy of racism, again connecting past and present. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is also discussed as an immersive experience that calls for accountability and action, encouraging visitors to actively participate in the memorial process through grief. Through its gatherings and ceremonies, the Community Remembrance Project embodies intergenerational trauma and honours lives lost to racial violence. This project, along with other EJI initiatives, underscores the importance of recognizing soil as a living witness to history and an active participant in the process of remembering differently.