Usher, Common, Roots to Play Memorial Concert for Lynching Victims

Usher, Common, the Roots will perform at a concert in Montgomery, Alabama to commemorate the opening of a memorial to African American victims of lynching. Gary Clark, Jr., Brittany Howard, Kirk Franklin and others, yet to be announced, will also perform at what has been dubbed the Concert for Peace & Justice, according to WSFA.

The concert, which will celebrate the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, will take place at the Riverwalk Amphitheater on April 27th; tickets will go on sale Friday.

The concert was organized by the Equal Justice Initiative, which has put together a two-day summit centered around the opening. It will take place on April 26th and 27th and include a grand opening ceremony at the Montgomery Convention Center with appearances by BeBe Winans and Congressman John Lewis. Other speakers at the opening include Ava DuVernay, Gloria Steinem, Al Gore and Common.

The memorial will be located on a hill overlooking Montgomery. The EJI reports that it will be the first memorial to pay tribute to the Unites States’ victims of racial terror. The organization has documented more than 4,000 instances of African-American men, women and children who were hanged, burned, shot, drowned and/or beaten to death by white lynch mobs between 1877 and 1950.

“There is still so much to be done in this country to recover from our history of racial inequality,” EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson said, according to WSFA. “I’m hopeful that sites like the ones we are building and conversations like the ones we’re organizing will empower and inspire people to have the courage to create a more just and healthy future.”