Charlottesville to Jamestown: A Journey of Transformation
will occur in early October 2018. It will begin in Charlottesville, the
site of the most violent attack by white supremacists in modern US
history, and it will end at the landing point of the first enslaved
Africans on this continent, Jamestown and Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Offering a history of race and occupation, this pilgrimage will share
religious perspectives from scholars, journalists, and clergy members.
Participants on this pilgrimage will hear stories and untold
histories, build relationships and identify what needs to be transformed
in order to bring about racial equity. Sponsored by the Charlottesville
Clergy Collective, the events will provide an opportunity to
acknowledge the sin of enslavement and its legacy of inequity. It will
invite participants to take the next step to build a more just
community.
The pilgrimage commences on Saturday, October 6, with a four-mile walk from Charlottesville to Monticello. At Monticello, we will hear stories about the lives of the enslaved from their descendants, and read the names of almost 360 people who wereenslaved there.
From Monday, October 8 through Thursday, October 11, there
will be educational and cultural events that address the history of
American Indian presence in what we now call Virginia, and the
connections between Christianity and systemic racism.
On Friday, October 12, participants will travel to Richmond
to walk the Richmond's Slave Trail. On Saturday, October 13,
participants will visit Jamestown for a First Africans tour, and then
move on to Fort Monroe, where the first ship brought enslaved Africans
to this shore almost 400 years ago.
The Pilgrimage is sponsored by Charlottesville Clergy
Collective, a nonprofit, interfaith organization of fifty members
representing over twelve Christian denominations and five faith
traditions committed to addressing racism. The Pilgrimage has been
funded by the generous support of BAMA Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band
at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, the Virginia United
Methodist Foundation, twelve different local faith congregations, and
several individual donors. The Baptist Center for Ethics and the Thomas
Jefferson Foundation have provided in-kind services.
Go to www.cville2jtown.com for further information
For further information contact: Rabia Povich at deborahpovich@gmail.com; Michael Cheuk at email@cvilleclergycollective.org; Robert Lewis at rdlewis75@gmail.com.
