Racism to Reconciliation Archives - Ellen Morris Prewitt

Granddaughter of the Instigator

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 16, 2025. Posted in Featured, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Granddaughter of the Instigator

We get many names during our lives, some given to us and some assumed. I didn’t ask for “granddaughter of the instigator,” but it’s true. Here’s the origin story: https://www.salvationsouth.com/granddaughter-of-the-instigator-vicksburg-massacre-ellen-morris-prewitt

The Unveiling

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 13, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on The Unveiling

Down to the Lick Log

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 12, 2025. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 14 Comments on Down to the Lick Log

Sometimes, the rubber hits the road. Or, to use a more personal metaphor, sooner or later, we get down to the lick log. I know a lick log because the cows at Mamo and Papo’s farm had salt licks. My Uncle Jimmy put the blocks of salt on stumps in the field behind the barn. The cows, for God knows what reason, liked salt. They would low...

Fix the Creative Writing Workshop

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 15, 2025. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 6 Comments on Fix the Creative Writing Workshop

Are you a writer? In the course of “learning to write,” have you participated in a writing workshop? How did it go? Was it fun? Did it make the piece you were workshopping better? Did you learn something profound that stuck with you? Or were the teachings smothered by the acidic emotions of being “critiqued” by those who...

Origin of Black History Month

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 28, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Origin of Black History Month

Today, the last day of February, we’re going to give credit where credit is due. The origin of Black History Month. Q: Who started it? A: Carter Woodson. Woodson was a major American historian living and working during the first half of the 20th century. He founded the predecessor to the Journal of African American History, one of the...

Basquiat Our Patron Saint

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 24, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 5 Comments on Basquiat Our Patron Saint

In 2011, we rented an apartment (not a condo; everyone wants to make it a condo) in New Orleans. On the walls lived Jean-Michel Basquiat. For a while, the building had been abandoned and inhabitants used the walls for murals. The developer who bought the dilapidated building leaned into the graffiti and made Basquiat our patron saint of the...

Until August Wilson

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 21, 2025. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 8 Comments on Until August Wilson

I had given up on plays until August Wilson. Much of my social life for decades had included attending plays. New Stage Theater in Jackson. Several theaters in Memphis. At one point, during a performance, I thought, What are you doing here? The play was not engaging. I was not having a good time. Until I discovered August Wilson. I would...

The Work of Julius Chambers

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 18, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on The Work of Julius Chambers

When Mother remarried, we moved to my new dad’s home state of North Carolina. We went briefly to Durham then on to our forever-home, Charlotte. We arrived September 1970 when, thanks to the work of Julius Chambers, school across America was about to change. Chambers was a graduate of my alma mater, UNC Law School. Unlike me, he...

The Work of Thurgood Marshall

Written by novagiant on February 17, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on The Work of Thurgood Marshall

From when I was in the fifth grade until I went off to college, the work of Thurgood Marshall dominated my educational experience. Before Marshall was a United States Supreme Court Justice, he was an NAACP lawyer working for the Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He tried Civil Rights cases. Over and over again, he tried them. And he...

Don’t Call Me Miss Ellen

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 10, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Don’t Call Me Miss Ellen

When I was practicing law, I frequently appeared before an administration judge. This one trial, the old dude who the agency hired to act as the judge would call me Miss Ellen. He called the opposition Mr. Cockrell. Me, Miss Ellen. I was a lawyer. The male person on the other side of the case was a lawyer. But I was being talked down to every...