Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation

As an organization focused on reconciliation, our Descendant-led partnership with Jesuits is at the core of everything we do. In this video, Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, Chair of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust, discusses the need for Jesuits to deeply examine the past, accept its truth, and move forward with a moral response.

🎨 Arts-focused opportunity for Descendants! The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation is thrilled to announce our partnership with The Stories of Us, an arts education nonprofit that uses public art and public space to engage people in conversations about how we can become a more solidarity-driven and equity-focused society. For an upcoming exhibition, The Stories of Us will bring together artists and storytellers to explore narratives around the Descendant experience, and how it embodies the conflicts between the high ideals of our nation and the reality of oppression and enslavement in our nation’s founding. As part of this partnership, The Stories of Us has issued a Request for Proposal seeking artists to visually illustrate the stories of Descendants. This opportunity is open to any person who self-identifies as a Descendant of Jesuit enslavement. See the RFP and respond by March 31! https://lnkd.in/gJSKUVbF

We were thrilled to embark on a West Coast tour to visit Jesuit institutions and share the story of our work to create a path for racial reconciliation between Jesuits and Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding, thereby creating a model of racial healing for the world. Read an account of our journey through this story by Jesuits West.

👩🏿🎓 Scholarships available! 🧑🏾🎓 We’re proud to support today’s living Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding through our college scholarship program, in partnership with Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Education was only a dream for the ancestors who survived slavery and paved a way for us to be here today. We’ve awarded nearly $166,000 to 21 students attending 16 universities — all individuals who are their ancestors’ wildest dreams. ⏳ If you know an eligible post-secondary student, share the word. Applications for Spring 2025 funds are due March 7. Apply: https://lnkd.in/gzpJVEWh #blackhistorymonth

DTRF President & CEO MONIQUE MADDOX was interviewed, along with Trust Chair Fr. Timothy Kesicki, for this USA TODAY story about our organization's roots. Read the article to learn more about our mission to create a global model for racial reconciliation and healing. #blackhistorymonth

#BlackHistoryMonth is about spotlighting the extraordinary contributions of Black Americans to history, and that starts with an understanding of the tremendous obstacles that racism has put in their way. In this video, DTRF President and CEO Monique Trusclair Maddox shares the story of how she grappled with learning that her ancestors were enslaved by the Catholic Church — and how she has turned anguish into action toward building a better future.

From all of us at the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, happy new year!

Merry Christmas from the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation!

DTRF President and CEO MONIQUE MADDOX and Trust Chair Fr. Tim Kesicki are featured in today's The Harvard Crimson story about Harvard University's path to reconciling with its historical ties to slavery. The Foundation is creating a Descendant-led model for universities and other institutions to ensure those at the heart of the matter -- Descendants -- can guide the way forward.

Leaders of the Foundation were honored to travel to the UK at the invitation of the The Church of England recently to meet with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and members of the College of Bishops. They discussed shared goals to reckon with the legacy of the Transatlantic slave trade and how the Foundation's approach can serve as a model of healing. Link in bio for a video about this important engagement. We're proud to be part of this partnership. #racialhealing #slavery https://lnkd.in/gjnzAXiW