Representing the first Africans stolen from their homeland and sold into chattel slavery in 1619, the 350 "Ancestors" encircle the vacant plinth of the slaveholder Francis Scott Key which was partially toppled by protesters on Juneteenth 2020.

Monumental Reckoning creates a sweeping throughline from America’s original sin of 250 years of slavery, to the evolution and imposition of a brutal and pervasive color-based caste system, to this moment of racial reckoning across America. Monumental Reckoning was formally installed on June 18, 2021 in a ceremony led by San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

Adjacent to this creative work of fearless examination, the universal beckoning of "LIFT EVERY VOICE’ was installed above the historic Spreckels Temple of Music on December 1, 2021. The words, written by civil rights champion James Weldon Johnson, are the first words of his "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," the defacto Black National Anthem.