Racism to Reconciliation Archives - Page 4 of 11

Countries of Africa

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 16, 2022. Posted in Featured, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Countries of Africa

Call me geographically challenged. By which I mean, put me in a hallway in a hotel, and I turn the wrong direction toward the elevator. Every. Single. Time. My husband learned early on that “You’ve been there,” wasn’t a sufficient response to a request for directions. Been there? More than once? Irrelevant. As for me, I’ve...

Family Hero Stories

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 7, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 12 Comments on Family Hero Stories

If you are white and committed to racial justice, be prepared to give up what you are most proud of. I’m talking about your family hero stories. Your proud family—or personal—accomplishments. Look underneath those stories, and you might find harm done. What’s the Rest of your Family Story? Let me go first. Long as I remember,...

Opening Our Literary Eyes

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 24, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 4 Comments on Opening Our Literary Eyes

I fancy myself embedded in a new strata of American history. That strata is white people gaining awareness of how whiteness shapes society. It’s a stupid conceit. White Americans have always known institutions were shaped for them. We only momentarily “forgot” for the years from, oh, 1972 to 2008. In our forgetting years, we told...

Anti-Lynching Today

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 16, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on Anti-Lynching Today

I cannot recommend this book on anti-lynching. In the original writings in The Light of Truth, Ida B. Wells aims to stop lynching by showing the facts. At the time, white America claimed lynching was a terrible but understandable reaction to Black men raping white women. It wasn’t. White Americans lynched Black Americans to enforce the...

The South and America

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 10, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on The South and America

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation If anyone doubts the premise of Imani Perry’s book South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, all they have to do is look to the lawsuit poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. As Mississippi was the author of strategies...

Reparations Action

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 28, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 8 Comments on Reparations Action

This is the 7th installment in my reparations series where we’ll turn from background to action. Click to read the introduction. Continue with background facts about me and the salacious real me facts. I’ve included some warnings, plus the joy of reparative work. My last post I told you the “why” of choosing creative writing as...

Reparations: Why Creative Writing

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on March 4, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, In the Name of Mississippi novel, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Reparations: Why Creative Writing

This is the 6th installment in my reparations series. Click to read the introduction. Continue with background facts about me and the salacious real me facts. I’ve included some warnings, plus the joy of reparative work. Today, we turn to what led me to take up reparations. Fiction Leads to Fact Twice, I’ve delved into my...

Reparative Work

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 25, 2022. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on Reparative Work

A scene from our reparations journey: We sit in the office of Dr. Ebony Lumumba, the Chair of the English Department at Jackson State University. We’re discussing the amazing conversation the night before on the stage of the McCoy Auditorium between Dr. Lumumba and Imani Perry. Dr. Perry was discussing her new book, South to America. (as soon as...

What We Owe to Black Women

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 17, 2022. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on What We Owe to Black Women

In honor of Black History Month, I’m letting you in on something I’ve learned. America owes a debt to Black women for moving us toward democracy. You might already know this. I didn’t. I learned about these heroes reading the excellent book, “She Took Justice,” by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall. She Took Justice Browne-Marshall...

Reparations Warnings

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 1, 2022. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on Reparations Warnings

Before we get into reparations warnings, I want to thank y’all who’ve contacted me to let me know you’re reading or were intrigued to read The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. I truly loved this collection of stories (as you can tell from my review), and I’m glad to have successfully shared my joy. Next we continue my reparations...