ACROSS AMERICA more than 4,400 black people were lynched(被私刑处死) between 1877 and 1950. Some were killed for flirting with(调情) white women, others for talking back(顶嘴) to bosses or trying to vote. In downtown Montgomery, Alabama, each of their names is carved into a rusted steel column(锈蚀钢柱) marking the county where they lived and died. As visitors walk through the six-acre memorial(六英亩纪念馆) the columns seem to rise. By the end they resemble a sea of dark bodies(黑色尸体海洋) hanging heavily overhead(沉重地悬在头顶).
在美国各地，1877年至1950年间有超过4400名黑人被私刑处死。有些人因为与白人女性调情而被杀，另一些人则因为顶撞老板或试图投票而被杀。在阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市中心，每名死者的名字都被刻在一根锈蚀的钢柱上，钢柱标注了他们生活及死亡的县。当游客穿过这座占地六英亩的纪念馆时，这些柱子似乎在上升。到最后，它们看起来像一片沉重悬挂在头顶的黑色尸体海洋。
Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, once had more slave-trading depots(奴隶贸易站) than churches. More recently, it has become home to(成为…的所在地) memorials that commemorate this history. As Donald Trump sets out to(着手做) build grand new structures in Washington, DC, Montgomery’s monuments offer another model of urban reinvention(城市重塑). About a decade after the project was conceived, Montgomery’s downtown is transformed and tourism is booming(旅游业蓬勃发展).
阿拉巴马州首府蒙哥马利曾经奴隶贸易站比教堂还多。最近，这里成为纪念这段历史的纪念馆所在地。当唐纳德·特朗普着手在华盛顿特区建造宏大的新建筑时，蒙哥马利的纪念碑提供了另一种城市重塑模式。该项目构思约十年后，蒙哥马利市中心焕然一新，旅游业蓬勃发展。
The project has been led by Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit law firm that defends death-row inmates(死刑犯). Mr Stevenson had observed how Berlin, Johannesburg and Kigali confronted their bleakest chapters(面对最黑暗的篇章). When he first moved to Montgomery, it didn’t have a single marker(标记物) that mentioned “slavery”, yet had 59 monuments to the Confederacy(邦联) and three high schools named for(以…命名) its war generals and soldiers. This seemed odd.
该项目由平等正义倡议（EJI）创始人布莱恩·史蒂文森领导，该组织是一家为死刑犯辩护的非营利律师事务所。史蒂文森曾观察柏林、约翰内斯堡和基加利如何面对其最黑暗的篇章。当他第一次搬到蒙哥马利时，那里没有一个提及“奴隶制”的标记，却有59座邦联纪念碑和以邦联战争将领和士兵命名的三所高中。这似乎很奇怪。
