Speaking Truth invites the descendants of slave owners to describe and reflect upon their ancestors’ role in slavery.

While the brutal practice of slavery was outlawed 150 years ago, this moral catastrophe has continued to bring violence and division upon all of America. The tragedy extends in our persistent inability to speak the truth about the ramifications that have followed.

In partnership with museums and cultural institutions, our goal is to open a space for national reckoning, an airing of difficult truths, and a path to reconciliation regarding slavery and racism in our culture.

Participants will examine their relatives’ beliefs, actions, and the ways in which they continue to benefit from the economics of slavery today. By volunteering their personal stories, these descendants will renounce injustices committed by their ancestors and open channels to discuss and denounce structural racism in America. Ultimately, these narratives will form an archive of references for scholarly or artistic exhibits and other endeavors.

Speaking Truth is not meant to offer redemption, nor does it seek to replace the narratives of enslaved people and their descendants who continue to bear the weight of this injustice. Rather, it proposes a template for ongoing, rigorous discussion regarding the merging of national responsibility and atonement.

Photo by Ufuk Saracoglu