Bearing Witness
Bearing Witness Pledge
Through the Bearing Witness Pledge, participating sites affirm their commitment to preserving and interpreting the stories of the enslaved men, women, and children whose lives, labor, resilience, and humanity helped shape these landscapes. Each site will unveil a permanent Bearing Witness marker and commemorative paver before hosting free public programs centered on remembrance, learning, and community.
“As caretakers of this land and its layered histories, we commit to truth-telling,” reads the Bearing Witness Pledge. “We pledge to honor and uplift the lives of the enslaved men, women, and children who lived, labored, and resisted here.”
The initiative arrives during a moment when efforts across the country have sought to remove books, restrict the teaching of history, and minimize the realities of enslavement.
“History has left us breadcrumbs,” said Hannah Drake, co-founder of (Un)Known Project. “The question is whether we are willing to follow them. Bearing Witness is an invitation to choose courage over comfort and truth over silence. It is not about assigning guilt – it is about restoring humanity. Every person deserves to have their story remembered, and every community deserves an honest understanding of the place it calls home.”
Inspired by the belief that collective action creates lasting change, Bearing Witness invites historic sites to stand together in telling the whole story—not only the accomplishments of those who owned these places, but also the lives of those whose forced labor made them possible.
“Bearing Witness is about building a coalition of historic sites willing to say together: We will tell the full story,” said Josh Miller, co-founder of (Un)Known Project. “The lives of enslavers and the enslaved are forever woven together. We cannot understand one without the other. Honest history helps us better understand who we have been, who we are, and who we can become.”
Sites and organizations who want to make the Bearing Witness Pledge can share their interest through the form below.