Racism to Reconciliation Archives - Ellen Morris Prewitt

The Blank Spot in our Brains.

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on January 4, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on The Blank Spot in our Brains.

Thank you to Tod Davies and Exterminating Angel Press for publishing this excerpt from my as-yet unnamed memoir-in-progress. “The Blank Spot in our Brains” opens with a story about my mother and veers off from there. The short piece explores how hard it is to accept information we don’t want to be true. I now have four excerpts...

Weekend of Remembrance

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 16, 2024. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on Weekend of Remembrance

Please enjoy these photos from the recent Weekend of Remembrance in Vicksburg. Dr. Albert Dorsey, Jr. at Bethel AME Church discussing the Massacres at the Weekend of Remembrance Dr. Beth Kruse at the church speaking about the impact of the Massacres Rev. Andy Andrews at the Vicksburg National Park Libation Ceremony on Saturday of the weekend Judge...

Mississippi Free Press and Me

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 29, 2024. Posted in Featured, Racism to Reconciliation. 14 Comments on Mississippi Free Press and Me

Yesterday, on the day of Thanksgiving in America, the Mississippi Free Press Voices published my essay, “Nearing Vicksburg: Examine What You Think is True.” I’m not going to tell y’all a lot about it, because I want you to experience it for yourself. Just know this: I’m a little Piglet when it comes to publishing anything,...

How Haiti Made the USA

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 1, 2024. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 5 Comments on How Haiti Made the USA

Y’all know hateful politicians aren’t denigrating Haitian refugees at random. They aren’t even choosing them just because in the brain of everlasting racists they’re Black refugees. Haitians are being denigrated because they are Haitian. And y’all know why racists hate Haiti, right? Haiti beat Napoleon. Oh, come...

President for Everyone

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 14, 2024. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 1 Comment on President for Everyone

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I waited for him to pivot from campaigning to being president. Take the win and move forward. I was shocked when he chose to keep doing his rallies. Now we know the rallies feed his self-definition. The adulation, the cheering at his remarks. He loves his rallies. It quickly became clear back then he had no...

Nearing Vicksburg

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 7, 2024. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on Nearing Vicksburg

I drove the narrow, wooded road until nearing Vicksburg where the green overhang opened up to cotton and soybean fields. The road into town, Clay Street, drops you right off at the Vicksburg National Park. The Civil War siege of Vicksburg, and the city’s July 4th, 1863, surrender gave Union forces control over the Mississippi River. The Park...

How I Forgot 2023

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 30, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 6 Comments on How I Forgot 2023

Going back through my 2023 date book to add recurring appointments to the 2024 book was eye-opening. It made me see how I forgot 2023. I could easily remember some wonderful new developments in my life in 2023. The Contemplative Writing Group, for one. My informal group of NOLA women asking the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana to own up to its founding...

American Racism

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 24, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 8 Comments on American Racism

If you think racism in America is a Southern problem, you are not paying attention. American racism has never been a Southern problem. Our federal government has always enforced racist norms. When Nat Turner rebelled, the federal government sent in the United States Navy to stop the uprising. Both the American Navy and Army were used to crush perhaps...

What Makes You Come Alive?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 24, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on What Makes You Come Alive?

It dawned on me (ha, ha—pun alert) sitting here staring out the window at the breaking morning light (what has happened to me? why am I waking up so early? who the hell knows): I have sorta/kinda become the family historian. How can I not admit this when I recently THREE times told to family members the story of the Mississippi ancestors, a story...

White Christian Fear of Racism

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 4, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, GOD, Racism to Reconciliation. 7 Comments on White Christian Fear of Racism

I’ve hit a conundrum I can’t understand. I’ve been Christian since the moment my mother hit her knees and, against every fiber in her being, gave up her motherly control over me to have me baptized as “God’s own forever.” As such, I know sin as separation of God. I also know the good news that repentance leads...