Milton museum to honor Bryan Stevenson

The life and career of Milton native Bryan Stevenson will be on display at the Lydia Black Cannon Museum in Milton from Saturday, May 25 through December.

Museum curator Heidi Nasstrom Evans said the exhibit will provide a timeline of Stevenson’s early life and his years at Cape Henlopen High School through his creation of the Equal Justice Initiative, which advocates for equal justice for marginalized communities. There will also be a section on Stevenson’s legal career and on founding the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala.

Evans said visitors will see videos of Stevenson’s speeches, with images and texts. She said the timeline will be juxtaposed with what was happening in the world at the time. The show will be called “Walking Into Greatness: Bryan Stevenson.” Evans said when viewers walk into the room, they will find footprints on the floor that will reflect Stevenson’s age at particular moments in time, enabling visitors to walk in his footsteps. For his younger years, Evans said there will be child footprints, followed by running shoe prints for his days at Cape High and adult shoes to represent more recent years. 

At the center of the space will be a judge’s bench allowing visitors to reenact Stevenson’s cases. Evans said the focus on children will reflect Stevenson’s efforts to reform the justice system to keep minors from receiving sentences of life in adult prison without parole.

“Our focus is on engaging local children and making it important to them,” Evans said.

The Stevenson exhibit was Evans’ first major project after taking over as curator in October. Her research included working with the family to get their recollections, reading everything about Stevenson she could get her hands on and taking a trip to Montgomery to see the Legacy Museum and the memorial.

“That really helped solidify everything I had been reading so I really understood what his interest is,” she said. “He wants to change the narrative. He wants to change the way people discuss race and imprisonment in this country.”

She said Stevenson himself was not interviewed for the project. Most of the material has come through his family.

Evans said the idea for the exhibit started with Stevenson’s sister, Christy Taylor, and Lee Revis-Plank, then director of the historical society. She said additional help has been provided by Stevenson’s cousin, Alonna Berry, a member of the historical society board.

Evans said the initial schedule was to open in January, but Evans pushed back the opening to allow for additional research and planning.

“It has come together very well. We’re at the point where the file is ready to go to the printer, and we just need to install it,” Evans said.

The exhibit will be held in its own room, which will be painted before the exhibit is installed.

“It’s very exciting,” Evans said. “We wanted to make an impact with our first exhibit.”

She said this topic is one people are really interested in. Evans said visitors will be excited to learn that someone who has done such important work came from Milton.

“ Here’s someone who came from this small town and has made such a difference in the world,” Evans said.