September 18: Conference Call on Motivations.
Conference Call on Motivations for doing the work of CTTT Saturday, September 18, 1-2:30 pm...
Book of the Month
Wit, Will and Walls is the triumphant story of Betty Kilby Baldwin. Betty tells of her struggles as an infant plaintiff in a case to end desegregation in her school system in Warren County Virginia and subsequent struggles following that case as well.
Blog of the Month
Betty Kilby Baldwin
I stand now as a person in charge of my life, but I often reflect back on how I survived the most traumatic circumstances that could have jeopardized this reality.
September 11th has been a day of remembrance in my life for 50 plus years. It was this date in 1958 that the judge made the final decision in my case of Betty Ann Kilby vs Warren County Board of Education that forced the desegregation of my high school. The date is as significant to me as my birthday.
In the News
African American students at UC San Diego have began to speak out on the offensiveness of the “Compton Cookout” idea that was posed by white students at the university.
This is an interesting link about how several people in Buffalo, NY are engaging with African American history.
The NBA recognizes Black History Month by hosting a book signing by a woman who is apart of the Little Rock Nine. R
Coming to the Table is a program that is addressing the legacies of slavery in the United States. On our site you will find stories related to slavery’s legacies—under the topics history, healing, connecting and action. You will also find resources, events, news and a community to join for connecting and sharing.
Coming to the Table is a program of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
History
Go home. Find out what happened, said the black ghost woman lying dead at the end of my bed one drizzly April evening in the ‘90s. This was the one thing I’d long dreaded the most. Still, I knew in that moment I would do whatever necessary to discover what happened come hell or high water.
Connecting
This story, featured on today’s front page of CNN.com, tells the connecting story of our very own Betty and Phoebe.
*NEW STORY*Action
Coming to the Table has begun to support several community projects, led by Coming to the Table community members, which are taking places in various parts of the country. These projects vary in approach and are designed in a way that will test Coming to the Table’s theory of history, healing, connection and action as a collective means to deal with a harmful past.
Healing
I was a little over a year old when the Watts Riots broke out in Los Angeles in August 1965. I don’t remember clearly what I first saw of the events, but I do have a memory of frightening violence on the screen of our black and white Magnavox TV set. I saw people hurting each other, and it wasn’t clear from what I was seeing whether the people running or throwing things or being taken down on the ground were the most to be feared or the people chasing them, who looked like the only people I ever saw in my small California foothills town. That is, white people.
What We Are Learning
What We are Learning About Healing
By Administrator
One of the greatest travesties visited upon humanity has come in the form of an old folk-wisdom which states: “Time heals all wounds.” This piece of folk wisdom has now been effectively countered by every major scientific school of thought. The evidence of its inaccuracy is also clearly visible when we consider the unhealed and ongoing global conflicts, local ethnic, class and political turmoil and especially when we consider the legacy and aftermath of racialized institutional enslavement in the United States.
Remnants: how events of the past are still affecting us
How One Mennonite Boy Faces Racism
By Administrator
As a child, I was an avid reader. The Underground Railroad was a fascinating topic to me. I liked to imagine I was living in a station on the Railroad. Where would I hide the runaways? In a secret compartment under the stairwell? No, that would be too obvious. Maybe I could build a fake wall in the attic. These were a part of my childhood fantasies.
