Looking to come to terms with the history and evolution of racism, two authors logged thousands of miles and explored numerous sites of racial terror, chronicling their journey toward racial reconciliation in a book that will premiere at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m., in Martin Chapel.
Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade (Beacon Press, 2012) tells the story of authors Thomas Norman DeWolf and Sharon Leslie Morgan, as they travel over a three-year period through 27 states and abroad in search of healing and change.
The book uses teachings by STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) and models of healing pioneered by Coming to the Table, each developed out of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU.
Morgan and DeWolf will share stories from their journey, read excerpts from the book, and discuss their personal challenges with reconciliation.
In Gather at the Table, DeWolf and Morgan speak candidly about racism and the unhealed wounds of slavery. Using genealogy as an undercurrent, they visited ancestral towns, courthouses, cemeteries, plantations and antebellum mansions in an effort to come to terms with both the history and current manifestations of racism in the United States.
In their book, DeWolf and Morgan say, “The legacy of slavery is a combination of historical, cultural, and structural trauma that continues to touch everyone in American society today. Racism is more subtle now than in the past, but it still exists. Healing will happen and change will occur, when people start listening to one another and looking truthfully at their ancestral experiences.”
Books will be available at the event, in the EMU bookstore and everywhere books are sold. A portion of the proceeds of all sales will support the ongoing justice and peacebuilding work at EMU.
The event is free to the public.
For more information about the book and a complete list of scheduled appearances visit gatheratthetable.net.