Our Story…

Volusia Remembers is a diverse local organization of volunteers committed to healing divisions within the community through acknowledging, understanding and confronting painful events in Volusia County’s history.

MISSION Remember, acknowledge and reflect upon our history of racial terror by partnering with the Equal Justice Initiative to install monuments to victims of lynching in Volusia County, Florida..

GOALS
HONOR  Remember lynching victims and celebrate civil rights victories.
EDUCATE   Explore our divided past and chart a united future
RECONCILE  Cultivate healing and reconciliation

In April of 2020, Volusia Remembers officially became a Community Partner of EJI, the Equal Justice Initiative. Through this partnership, Volusia Remembers:
 ·   Will gather soil for remembrance at the sites of documented lynchings in Volusia County
·    Will erect historical markers at the lynching sites
·     Will install in Volusia County a replica of the Volusia monument now displayed at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL

About EJI…

Learn more about these places of learning and remembrance in Montgomery, Alabama.
THE LEGACY MUSEUM THE PEACE AND JUSTICE MEMORIAL

The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

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 that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.

EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment. We are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning wall calendar, and short films that explore our nation’s history of racial injustice, and we recently launched an ambitious national effort to create new spaces, markers, and memorials that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, which shapes many issues today.

EJI provides research and recommendations to assist advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of criminal justice reform. We publish reports, discussion guides, and other educational materials, and our staff conduct educational tours and presentations for thousands of students, teachers, faith leaders, professional associations, community groups, and international visitors every year.
Learn more about EJI HERE