Authors , who met at ��ݮ���� (EMU), launched Gather at the Table at EMU in early October 2012.  A couple of weeks after this launch, the two were interviewed for “Race Talk” with on MSNBC. This appearance that boosted the sales of their book from around #40,000 to #149 on Amazon.com, with the book listed among Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers.” Random House also recommended the book for its list of new freshman-year readings.

The book uses a joint journey through 27 states over three years ­– visiting ancestral grounds, courthouses, plantations, and civil rights sites – as a framework for exploring “the journey toward understanding and peace and reconciliation . . . understanding how slavery affected the psyche of everyone who still lives in America today and how it informs the social structures that govern our lives,” as Morgan explained in a J for “Weekday” on KUOW, Seattle’s NPR station.

“I think what we were trying to do is to look at things from both sides of the equation as a black person and a white person, and a man and a woman, and people who were in opposition in a lot of ways,” she said.

Morgan is a black woman from Chicago’s South Side, a descendant of slaves on both sides of her family. She speaks of living much of her life with a deep fear of white people. DeWolf is a white man from rural Oregon, a descendant of a slave-trading dynasty.

Opposition to Reconciliation

“The intense and non-trusting relationships were so very fragile and suspect at the beginning of the journey but gradually they were able to begin to reach out to each other in order to understand their misunderstandings regarding each race and reach a mutual respect and love,” posted a reviewer on amazon.com on Dec. 20, 2012. That reviewer was one of nine, all giving the book a five-star rating as of Jan. 9, 2013.

Morgan and DeWolf met at Coming to the Table, a program launched by EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in 2006 with the hopes of bringing together descendants of slaveholders and enslaved people to explore history, uncover truths, build relationships, promote healing, and inspire action for a more just society.

The new book credits teachings by both STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) and Coming to the Table,  each developed out of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU. As a result, the authors are dedicating part of the book’s royalties to EMU’s work in this field.

Hope Springs at EMU

“The actions of one or two people rarely make a significant difference in the world,” wrote Morgan and DeWolf. “But the commitment of many people, acting individually and collectively, has great potential.

“Hope springs when people take the STAR training: when members of Coming to the Table congregate on a conference call to discuss restorative justice, genealogy, or relationship building, when six women in Seattle create a weekly ‘Healing Together’ workshop, and when a man in Virginia inspires people in his community to explore the history and impact of slavery through Negro spirituals and to raise their voices together in song.

“This is our work,” they added, “to repair unhealed wounds from the past and challenge systems that remain unjust and either dismantle them or work to heal the damage they continue to cause.”

The Morgan/DeWolf book tour includes presentations at universities, churches, musuems, libraries, and book-selling venues around the country. To invite the authors to speak or to learn of their scheduled appearances, visit .

In mid-April, 2013, EMU will be hosting a workshop pertinent to Morgan’s and DeWolf’s story, titled “Transforming Historical Harms.”  The two-day training will provide tools for analyzing the legacies and aftermath of historical trauma, and will examine the beliefs, narratives and structures that perpetuate that trauma. It will also cover strategies and practices for addressing historical trauma, including facing history, making connections, healing wounds, and taking action. to the public.

The CNN feature highlights the .

Betty (left) and Phoebe Kilby, part of , an EMU/CJP program devoted to transforming the legacy of slavery.

Betty, an African American and author of “Wit Will and Walls” met Phoebe, a European American and the associate director for development for Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU, in 2007 as the descendants of an enslaved/slaveholder family. They now travel the country as members of telling their story.

CNN’s most shared story of the day

May 20 the CNN story was featured on the CNN home page for several hours and logged more than 600,000 hits. It was the most read, linked and shared story of the day on CNN.com, said Wayne Drash, author of the piece and reporter for CNN.

Online comments numbered nearly 2500 less than 48 hours after the original posting. The majority of discussion underscored the difficulty and importance of reconciliation.

Twitter came alive, too, with mentions of the unique program. One young woman tweeted that she found CTTT after meeting kin from the family that enslaved her great-great-grandmother. By mid-day she was one of dozens of new members of the program’s online community, which doubled in membership in just 24 hours.

And visitors to the CTTT website hit a historic high. The site logged 30 times more readers than the day before.

Story spreads across the globe

Interest in the program and the story of the Kilbys and Coming to the Table went global quickly.

Program Director Amy Potter Czajkowski was interviewed for an upcoming Voice of America segment on Coming to the Table.

By mid-day, international broadcasting service had interviewed Phoebe Kilby, CTTT Program Director Amy Potter Czajkowski, and CTTT Community Coordinator Susan Hutchison for a segment to be aired in Asia.

“This is a story that resonates in many cultures,” says Kilby. “It bridges racial, ethnic and religious divides. In the last day I’ve gotten so many positive e-mails, calls, and Facebook postings. I’m glad our story of racial reconciliation has touched so many.”

About Coming to the Table

Coming to the Table was created in 2005 to address the traumatic effects of slavery on individuals and communities. Initially the program focused on the stories and experiences of people linked by their ancestors’ enslaved-slaveholding relationship,but focus has since expanded to addressing historical harms in communities, a point Kilby is quick to emphasize.

“While our family histories provided a window through which we could connect, Betty and I are focusing on creating a new relationship now, a new legacy for the future,” she says.

The program’s continued focus on building community, making peace, and providing service to others are core values of the EMU community.

The name “Coming to the Table” is inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic March on Washington speech, in which he prayed that one day “…the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners… will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

About EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuliding

Coming to the Table was started at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, which is comprised of the and the , which houses the , and other intensive training, program, and partnership opportunities in peacebuilding.

Learn more

• Center for Justice and Peacebuilding
• EMU core values
• Undergraduate major in peacebuilding and development

Betty (left) and Phoebe Kilby, descendants of slaves and slave owners, connected in 2007 and are part of , an EMU/CJP program devoted to healing the wounds of slavery and its aftermath.

The following is an excerpt of .

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?"

Learn more

• EMU core values
• Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

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