About Us

The Society of Justice & Equality for the People of Sugar Land (S.O.J.E.S.)  is a non-profit organization, based in Sugar Land, Texas, that strives to provide a mechanism to bring entities together to memorialize the Sugar Land 95 as well as “change the narrative” on the atrocities of convict leasing.  S.O.J.E.S.’s goal is to present “The Sugar Land 95 Experience,” via this online convict leasing museum (13 panels) is to take visitors through a journey of consciousness and awareness through education, memorialization, healing and reconciliation between the past and to the light via the pursuit of justice, while advocating for a brighter path forward for the community, state, nation and world. 

S.O.J.E.S. believes as a community, it is imperative that we all do the difficult work of confronting our history of racial injustice, tell the truth, while understanding that our painful, yet candid connection with history also shapes our present and helps build a future embedded in justice. S.O.J.E.S. is committed to giving a voice to the voiceless by emphasizing that truth telling is a form of advocating for justice, not only in the past, but also for seeking meaningful change and real solutions to contemporary issues of racial and social justice, which affects so many present-day communities as well.

Our hope is for visitors to the “online Convict Leasing museum” to be able to reflect and reconcile between the painful past and explore their role in the present, by contemplating the final question of “where do we go from here?” They then can examine opportunities for education and advocacy for progress, justice and social good.