A multi-decade effort has helped the country better understand historic injustice, what it meant to be enslaved, and how that legacy shapes the country today. The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016 with extensive exhibitions chronicling the impact of slavery. Historic homes, like Monticello, have dealt head-on with the issue; a new exhibit that opened at the institution this summer explores President Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with an enslaved woman, Sally Hemings.

And in Montgomery, Alabama, the National Memorial to Peace and Justice, a stirring monument and museum dedicated to victims of lynching and racial injustice, opened its doors this spring, aiming to create what the founders call “a sober, meaningful site where people can gather and reflect on America’s history of racial inequality.”