equal justice initiative founder

On August 7, 1930, a large white mob in Marion, Indiana, beat and hanged 19-year-olds Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. We profile the senators, governors, judges, writers, and ministers who led the movement to maintain segregation. [1] In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty was unconstitutional for persons convicted of crimes committed under the age of 18. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum have new COVID-19 safety precautions in place. Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and bestselling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Explore EJI’s report and microsite on the mass opposition to racial equality during Era 3: Segregation. After Brown v. Board of Education, many states authorized the closing of public schools to avoid integration. In 2020, he shared the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", with Nasrin Sotoudeh, Ales Bialiatski, and Lottie Cunningham Wren. Bryan Stevenson. The Equal Justice Initiative works to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality. [52], American lawyer and social justice activist, Loyola University Chicago, Office of Registration & Records, The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, "Confronting Mass Imprisonment and Restoring Fairness to Collateral Review of Criminal Cases", "The Ultimate Authority on the Ultimate Punishment: The Requisite Role of the Jury in Capital Sentencing", "The Politics of Fear and Death: Successive Problems in Capital Federal Habeas Corpus Cases", "Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13-and 14-Year Old Children to Die in Prison", "I went to death row for 28 years through no fault of my own", "A Stubborn Alabama Lawyer Stands Alone Between Death and His Clients", "Bryan Stevenson on why the opposite of poverty isn't wealth; it's justice", "How accurate is 'Just Mercy'? EJI believes we need a new era of truth and justice that starts with confronting our history of racial injustice. [4] The memorial opened in April 2018. Walter McMillian was wrongly sentenced to death for murder of a white woman despite alibi testimony from dozens of Black people. About this website. Until we confront our history of racial injustice and its legacy, we cannot overcome the racial bias that exists today. In November 2018, Stevenson received the Benjamin Franklin Award from the American Philosophical Society as a "Drum major for justice and mercy. Thousands more were attacked, sexually assaulted, and terrorized by white mobs and individuals who were shielded from arrest and prosecution. The EJI offices are near the landing at the Alabama River where slaves were unloaded in the domestic slave trade; an equal distance away is Court Square, "one of the largest slave auction sites in the country. Equal Justice Initiative Founder and ‘Just Mercy’ Author Bryan Stevenson Delivered Reynolds Lecture. Learn more . Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, is the scheduled headline speaker for the 2019 Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama. During Reconstruction, the 12-year period following the Civil War, lawlessness and violence perpetrated by white leaders created an American future of racial hierarchy, white supremacy, and Jim Crow laws—an era from which our nation has yet to recover. [5] The center divided work by region and Stevenson was assigned to Alabama. The four-day event takes place September 19-22 at the Lory Student Center. Stevenson said of the murder: "Because my grandfather was older, his murder seemed particularly cruel. And we expose the use of Confederate iconography to rally the opposition to racial equality with an interactive map showing thousands of Confederate monuments that were erected to maintain white supremacy long after the Civil War. Black veterans were targeted for racial terror. The State Bar provides the Committee on Justice Initiatives (CJI) with staff support and a dubget to facilitate phone and in-person meetings and a wide breadth of projects. Invocation of Confederate pride and identity accompanied white resistance to civil rights and racial equality during and following Reconstruction, at the height of the civil rights movement, and into the 21st century. Speaking at Seattle Pacific University for a special chapel service, Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, said that Christians cannot ignore the suffering of the millions of Americans caught in an unjust criminal justice system. Equal Justice Initiative Montgomery, AL. One of the three keynote speakers is Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson.. This belief in racial hierarchy survived slavery’s abolition, fueled racial terror lynchings, demanded legally codified segregation, and spawned our mass incarceration crisis. Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. [3] Pools and other community facilities were informally segregated. In addition, for all the documented lynchings covered in newspaper reports, many racial terror lynchings went unreported and their victims remain unknown. His speech at TED2012 in Long Beach, California brought him a wide audience on the Internet. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, Stevenson has challenged bias against the poor and minoritiesin the criminal justice system, especially children. His memoir, "Just Mercy," was adapted into a 2019 major motion picture. A widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned, he has won numerous awards, including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Prize and the ACLU’s National Medal of Liberty. EJI challenges racial and economic injustice and provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in jails and prisons. "[5], As a child, Stevenson dealt with segregation and its legacy. Within a decade after the Civil War, Congress began to abandon the promise of assistance to millions of formerly enslaved Black people. EJI collaborated with renowned artist Molly Crabapple on this animated video, which unflinchingly explores America’s brutal history of lynching and racial terror. 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