Our creative idea was to bring EJI's research to life online, showing America's history of racial terror lynchings with interactive maps and narrative content. We wanted to visually illustrate the scope of racial terror lynchings, but also go beyond data visualization and tell the stories of the victims—or those who are still suffering the effects of this history to this day.

An interactive map presents an opportunity to interact with and more completely understand the data, while engaging with specific stories. Audio photo essays featuring the descendents of lynching victims reveal the ongoing impact of this history today, while a short documentary follows the Dedman-Miles family as they return South for the first time since their grandfather’s lynching 100 years ago.

We then set out to integrate the content into cultural moments and connect with key influencers to help expose as many people to this important, timely message as possible.

Our aesthetic was inspired by NAACP’s iconic “A man was lynched yesterday” flag and protest signs, meant to make a bold statement with minimal clutter. We went for a subdued approach to our art direction so the full weight of the photos, videos, and stories were in focus. The minimalist design approach was always about heroizing the data and the human lives behind it.

On the interactive map, we opted for a simplified black so any design represented a life lost and a story worth reflecting on. These maps show the scope of racial terror lynchings by county and how the Great Migration forever altered our nation’s demographics. For photography, we partnered with established and up-and-coming African American photographers for each audio photo essay, all of whom brought a unique perspective to each story.

Our goals were to reach 15 million users and drive 1 million users to the site. Beyond hard numbers, we wanted to seed the project within culture and connect with key influencers who could help spread the word. We blew those benchmarks away.

Our video content was viewed 47.5 million times, including 3 million views of Anthony Ray Hinton’s story, 2.8 million views the “Strange Fruit” music video, and 1.2 million views of Bryan Stevenson’s interview on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”. We received 121 million potential impressions across Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook in the first week alone.

The site was visited 1.3 million times. Over 120 influencers with a combined followership of 60 million shared our content, and over 102,000 people attended an event or a museum where our work was on display.

Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based civil rights nonprofit, believes that in order to become a more just nation, we must face America’s history of racial violence. EJI spent years researching racial terror lynchings in America, documenting in a report their findings that over 4,000 African Americans were lynched in the United States. We collaborated with EJI to bring their unprecedented research on the history of lynching in America to a wide audience.

Our objective was to introduce the message behind the “Lynching in America” report to new audiences. To do this, we helped transform the report into an interactive experience, accessible to millions, integrated its core messaging into high-profile cultural moments, and developed curriculum to bring this message into the classroom.