Montgomery Museum Expands Slavery Exhibit Defying Trump Order Threatening Florida Sites

Human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson is expanding his Montgomery, Alabama, museum chronicling slavery and racial violence in America, even as President Trump has ordered the removal of monuments, plaques and exhibitions related to slavery and racial injustice from federal properties.

Stevenson's nonprofit, the Equal Justice Initiative, opened the Legacy Museum in Montgomery in 2018. A new exhibit, located in and named Montgomery Square, traces the civil rights movement from the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott through the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches. The exhibit details conditions Black riders faced under Jim Crow — including a prohibition on occupying the first 10 seats, which were reserved for white passengers — and documents the 1950 killing of Hilliard Brooks, a Black World War II veteran shot by police after an argument with a bus driver.

For Treasure Coast residents, the federal directive carries tangible consequences. The National Park Service administers two sites within driving distance that interpret civil rights and slavery history — including Fort Mose State Historic Site near St. Augustine, the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in North America, and Everglades-area historic corridors used by freedom seekers. Federal funding cuts or mandated exhibit changes at such sites would directly affect Florida heritage tourism and the educational programs that Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River County schools have used for student field visits. According to available information,

Stevenson, whose 2014 memoir "Just Mercy" was adapted into a film, said his organization spent five years combing through county archives and historical newspapers to document 6,500 lynchings of Black Americans between 1865 and 1950 — roughly two thousand more than had been previously recorded. He said the goal is not to assign blame but to enable progress.

"There is an America that is more free — where there's more equality, where there is more justice, where there is less bigotry — and I think it's waiting for us," Stevenson said. "But I don't think we can create that America while we remain burdened by this history that too many refuse to talk about."

The White House has not set a published deadline for full compliance with the monument removal directive across all federal agencies. According to available information,

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