TOUR Transforming Our Understanding of Race
Our mission is to transform the understanding of race within and beyond our community, building toward a vision of racial equity through education and engagement. We offer a wide range of ways to learn and grow. Check out our newsletter for the most up to date activities, trips and courses. Add your name to our email list to receive the newsletter and other communications in your inbox.
Contact [email protected] for information or to join the team.
Sacred Ground
Sacred Ground is a 10-week small group course which takes a deep dive into U.S. racial history and its impact. Two groups have completed the course and many have said that their perspectives and indeed their lives have been changed. Next course begins in January 2025. Are you ready? Contact [email protected] with questions or to sign up.
Films
Films are free and offered to all in October, January and March. This year, we’ll include a related book, trip or speaker to increase the impact. Past films have included 13th, a documentary on the Thirteenth Amendment and incarceration, Selma, and Oscar winners such as Green Book. Popcorn and conversation included! Contact [email protected] with suggestions, questions or to help out.
Book Studies
Book Studies look at race from a more contemporary point of view. Led by the Rev. Hannah Pommersheim, Dawn Stegelmann or a Sacred Ground alum, these 3 or 4 session conversations have included This Here Flesh and The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation. Watch our newsletter or contact [email protected] to be ready for the next group meeting this fall.
Trips
Trips both local and national, expand our understanding and perspective. We were in Selma, Birmingham and Atlanta for MLK day in 2024 and visited slavery burial sites in Manhattan. Upcoming ideas are the Amistad at Mystic Seaport, the Mashantucket Museum in Ledyard (the largest Native American museum in the country), and the Museum of African American History in Washington. There’s lots to experience, and we can do it together. Contact [email protected] with offers to help.
Lending Library
Lending Library is open to all in the Tink Neubert reading room near the entrance of the parish office building. Discover books and materials on the history and present-day treatment and experience of Black and other non-white peoples in America. Howard Thurman, Debbie Irving and Ta-Nehisi Coates are among the authors you’ll discover. Check out a book or take a while to browse and read. Contact [email protected] for more information or to donate books.
Workshops, Projects & More
There’s much more on the horizon! A closer look at slavery in the North, author visits and more are under consideration. There’s something for everyone in TOUR. Join us by attending classes and films, or offering to be part of the team. Check out our latest newsletter and sign up at [email protected] to get on the mailing list!
