About Us
Incepted in 2021, The Black Cherry Tree Project works to memorialize victims of racial terror beginning with the 33 African-Americans who were lynched in Jefferson County, Alabama between the mid to late 1800’s and the mid 1900’s. The 33 victims are honored by local artists in an attempt to construct a legacy for each of these victims outside of the tragic nature of their deaths. Selected artists use provided research from Jefferson County Memorial Project to create a commemorative art pieces in their preferred medium to honor a victim.
Our goal is to use art to encourage productive dialogue around race and justice, and highlight local artists and Black-owned businesses, in the spirit of community unification. Artists create commemorative art works for a victim of their choice to be included in the project's collection and publicly exhibited.
As part of The Black Cherry Tree Project, 33 commemorative black cherry tree saplings will also be planted across Birmingham in publicly accessible locations.
This project is currently supported by the National Performance Network’s (NPN) Southern Artists For Social Change grant, The Verdant Fund and individual donors.