This August marks a worldwide first as the Legacy Museum is bringing its work to Edinburgh and outside the US for the first time.
The event at the Playfair Library Hall explores the transatlantic slave trade, racial injustice and their modern consequences.
Running from 8 to 30 August as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, the free exhibition is coordinated by the Equal Justice Initiative.
It will feature historical context regarding Scotland’s connections to transatlantic slavery.
The Legacy of Slavery exhibition offers a one-hour experience charting centuries of history, from the economics of enslavement to mass incarceration and inequalities in justice systems.
The Alabama-based Legacy Museum was founded by the Equal Justice Initiative under the guidance of legal advocate Bryan Stevenson.
Stevenson said: “The relationship between art, music, and justice is deep, profound, and ancient. So much of the world’s most extraordinary creative works have been shaped by eras of inequality, bigotry, and injustice.
“The Legacy Museum documents and explores a painful part of America’s history, which should deepen visitors’ appreciation of the extraordinary music and creative expression this history has inspired.”
The event aligns with the festival’s focus on the United States and marks the approach of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Festival Director Nicola Benedetti said: “The Edinburgh International Festival was founded in 1947 as an act of reconciliation, built on the belief that art and dialogue together could help humanity reckon with its darkest chapters and find a way forward.
“That is what this work with The Legacy Museum offers: a chance to bring the International Festival’s tradition of ideas and conversation into direct contact with one of the most searching acts of historical reckoning being made anywhere today.”
She added: “Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative have created something that demands our attention, our honesty and our willingness to sit with discomfort in the service of truth.
“This exhibition is free and open to everyone, and we hope as many people as possible will come and see it.”
