In January of this year, I had the opportunity to visit the Equal Justice Initiative’sLegacy Museum and National Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama with a group of friends from Charleston. It was a profound, transformative experience for me as it helped to reshape my understanding of this period in history. Taking this learning journey with friends made it all the more powerful as we continue to talk about what we experienced together.
In reflecting on my visit, the word Grace keeps reverberating in my head. What does that word even mean in this context? Grace is defined as unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification and to confer dignity or honor. The Montgomery spaces give visitors a chance to pause, reflect, and regenerate their perspectives on a tumultuous period of history in our country. Visiting hallowed spaces implicitly honors the humans who have endured, advocated and perished during crucial moments in history.
Hallowed Spaces
Zooming out to other similar spaces in our country, I think of The United States Holocaust Museum, the many memorials on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Skilled, thoughtful museum exhibit designers and curators have done a masterful job at each site to facilitate a visitor’s experience so that they can better understand what it was like to be a part of a specific time. The visitor experience appeals to all senses. Designers use space and scale to illustrate the magnitude of specific events. Interactive technology gives visitors the opportunity to watch history come alive. These spaces exist so that visitors leave thinking critically about history, perhaps “regenerating” their perspective on a particular time period, and hopefully engaging in civil discussions about our world and current events.
Philanthropy Catalyzes Grace
How does philanthropy relate to all of this? In my mind, philanthropy catalyzes these spaces of Grace. Without philanthropy, these spaces wouldn’t exist at all or be able to generate powerful visitor experiences. For example, philanthropy provides a majority of the Equal Justice Initiative’s budget. The memorials on the National Mall are maintained by the National Park Service and the visitor experience is enhanced by the Trust for the National Mall. Through philanthropy, generous supporters confer dignity onto these events and the people who endured and the people who perished. Supporters are directly investing in the space and the experience offered to visitors, and donors are investing in critical thinking and civil dialogue that is a cornerstone of our democracy and culture. Philanthropy fuels Grace which in turn creates an opportunity to “regenerate” perspective on history and is ultimately a long term investment in civil society.
Regenerating Perspectives
I am watching two grace filled spaces come together in my own backyard: The International African American Museum and the Emanuel Nine Memorial. Neither institution would be in existence today if it were not for the generosity of many with their dollars, their leadership and their tenacity. I am curious: what ripple effects will come from having these grace filled spaces here in Charleston?
Supporting historical museums and memorials is more than simply investing in the humanities. It is about regenerating perspective on events, movements and humanity.
