Montgomery’s Freedom Monument Sculpture Park has garnered national attention amid debates about diversity and inclusion efforts.

The upcoming sculpture park has been mentioned in Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure and The Art Newspaper.

“As they say, the truth can set us free,” Bryan Stevenson, founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative, told CBS News.

“I genuinely believe that there is something that feels more like freedom, more like equality, more like justice waiting for us in America. But I don’t think we’ll get there if we don’t find the courage to talk honestly about our past.”

However, as the park’s opening draws near, controversial Alabama bills threaten to slash diversity programs across the state.

SB129 would prohibit government institutions, including state agencies, public schools and colleges, from funding a diversity, equity and inclusion office and from sponsoring DEI programs or any program that “advocates for a divisive concept.”

The EJI, a non-profit advocacy and public interest organization, provides countless educational opportunities to learn about the history and legacy of slavery in America.

EJI members say the park is set to open this year as the third component in the initiative’s Legacy Sites in Montgomery alongside the Legacy Museum, which examines the history of slavery and its aftermath, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, an outdoor memorial to victims of lynching.

The 17-acre sculpture park is located along the river where tens of thousands of enslaved people were trafficked, honors the lives and memories of the 10 million Black people who were enslaved in America and celebrates their courage and resilience.

The park will feature interactive exhibits and newly commissioned pieces by artists of color such as Alison Saar, Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Wangechi Mutu, Rose B. Simpson, Theaster Gates and Kehinde Wiley.

At the heart of the park stands a 43-foot-tall, 150-foot long National Monument to Freedom. The monument will feature 122,000 surnames of former slaves documented at the time.