Concrete walls based on the state's red clay will create walkways and will include quotes from famous Black people such as Maya Angelou, John Hope Franklin, Julius Chambers and Pauli Murray.
[4] The state bought the site in the 1960s and used half of it for parking, green space and a memorial to crime victims.
On that site, which now includes the State Archives and Records Center, Thomas Devereux Hogg, who owned 18 slaves according to the 1850 census, built a house in 1850.
[3] On October 7, 2020, a groundbreaking was held for the Beacon of Freedom,[1] a 50-foot-tall[5] orange metal art work to be lighted at night.
Perkins + Will landscape architect Allen Pratt said pathways and low walls with inspirational quotations would serve as a "journey to the Beacon".