Twin Memorials
Honoring the Enslaved
Emory University's Twin Memorials project seeks to honor the substantial contributions of the enslaved individuals and their descendants who helped to build, maintain, and grow Emory.
In 2021, Emory University announced plans to develop memorials on its Atlanta and Oxford campuses to honor the enslaved individuals who are part of Emory's history. These Twin Memorials will create space for contemplation and learning for students, staff, faculty, and community members.
The Twin Memorials project arises from these efforts to look unflinchingly at our past while firmly adhering to our present commitments to improving the human condition and creating an inclusive environment for all who seek to live, learn, and work here.
Acclaimed Design Firm Selected to Create Twin Memorials
The university has chosen Hood Design Studio to create the Twin Memorials. The firm's founder and creative director is Walter Hood, a 2019 MacArthur Fellow and chair and professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley, who was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Community Engagement Sessions Underway
Since October 2023, Hood Design Group has engaged in a series of listening sessions with descendants, students, faculty, staff, and community leaders to get input on the materials, locations, and narratives that can inform the project's design. “We see civic engagement as our process, focusing on co-creation as a design approach. Our goal is to create memorials that reflect the history, memory, and realities of Emory and these sites specifically,” Walter Hood explains. Members of Oxford's descendant community (pictured) talked with Walter Hood during the visit, including Rev. Avis Williams 78Ox 98C 08T 18T (fourth from right).
