Betty (left) and Phoebe Kilby, descendants of slaves and slave owners, connected in 2007 and are part of Coming to the Table, an EMU/CJP program devoted to healing the wounds of slavery and its aftermath.
The following is an excerpt of this CNN article.
Betty Kilby was gripped with apprehension. Descendants of the white family that enslaved her kin were coming to dinner.
She scrolled through a mental Rolodex of relatives who might flip out. Her brothers had already asked her: Why would you want to meet the family of those who held our loved ones in bondage?
"When they ask that question," she says, "you kind of scratch your head. It makes sense. Why would you want to do that?"