Step into a working farm in South Carolina in 1865, where an amazing reversal of labor and land ownership has taken place. Freedpeople are working their own farm, producing crops, making money. But then a visitor appears on the horizon, and one of the most painful, lasting chapters in American history is about to unfold.
Reconstruction 360 features 360-degree interactive video and short documentaries, and includes lesson plans, primary documents, curriculum standards and a geolocative walking tour of Reconstruction sites in downtown Columbia, S.C. Copyright 2020. SCETV
Racism and white supremacy keep the many divided for the benefit of the few. We must have an inclusive, open-hearted approach to organizing -- calling people into this work rather than creating barriers to participation -- while maintaining a clear political line.
SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
We work to connect people across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial justice organizing efforts.
SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change.
UNDERSTAND WHAT CHRISTIANITY HAS TO DO WITH JUSTIFYING LAND THEFT
European colonial powers used the Catholic Church’s Doctrine of Discovery to establish domination and
ownership over non-Christian peoples and their lands. The first document establishing the Doctrine, written by the pope in 1095 AD, declared any land in which Christians do not live was “empty” and open to conquest. A 1452 document gave Christian explorers “full and free power, . . . to invade, conquer, fight, subjugate the Saracens and pagans, and other infidels and other enemies of Christ,... and to lead their persons in perpetual servitude, and... appropriate realms…” The U.S. system of land ownership and private property is rooted in these documents. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited them to deny land rights to the Oneida Nation as recently as 2005.
The BlackQuaker Project (1) celebrates the lives and contributions of Quakers of Color worldwide and (2) documents and addresses their concerns. It is an outreach and in-reach ministry of Wellesley Friends Meeting, guided by the Quaker testimonies of Truth, Peace, Equality, Community, and Justice.
Native Land Digital strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide. We strive to go beyond old ways of talking about Indigenous people and to develop a platform where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms.
The Black Cemetery Network [BCN] was founded in response to the national call to action to raise awareness about the issue of erasure and silencing of black cemeteries throughout the U.S. These cemeteries contain stories about people, place, and families which are often missing from the larger public narrative. Our network connects living records of forgotten histories through research, advocacy, and collaboration.
Become a part of our story.