Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation

Happy birthday to Dallas TRHT’s Elder-In Residence, Ms. Marilyn Clark! Ms. Clark, you are beloved, admired, respected and appreciated. Thank you for your life and dedication to your work!

Dallas TRHT is pleased to share a resource created by our Summer 2024 Racial Justice Intern, Ashlyn! Researchers, historians and community members, check out The Dallas TRHT North Texas Oral History Directory! The link is our bio:

It is the individual stories that compose a region’s historical legacy. The North Texas area is rich with these stories, preserved in various archives and databases. However, these collections are scattered across different websites, libraries, and institutions, making it difficult for young researchers to know where to go or where to start. Dallas TRHT aims to make these oral histories known and easily accessible through the North Texas Oral History Directory.

Last week, for the first time ever, TRHT Legacy Places and TRHT Campus Centers co-presented and led a four hour immersion session entitled “A Nation Healing: The Imperative of Racial Equity” with the philanthropic community at the Council of Michigan Foundations Conference. Much love to , , Battle Creek Coalition for TRHT, , , , from Emory University’s TRHT Campus Center & Kha Yang from The University of St. Thomas TRHT Campus Center and Luz Benitez Delgado, Former Deputy Director and Program Officer for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation at W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

We are commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day for , highlighting the groundbreaking “Comanche Marker Trees of Texas” by Steve Houser, Linda Pelon and Jimmy W. Arterberry. How are you commemorating ?

In this unprecedented effort to gather and share knowledge of the Native American practice of creating, designating, and making use of marker trees, an arborist, an anthropologist, and a Comanche tribal officer have merged their wisdom, research, and years of personal experience to create Comanche Marker Trees of Texas.

A genuine marker tree is a rare find—only six of these natural and cultural treasures have been officially documented in Texas and recognized by the Comanche Nation. All six are located in Dallas County.

Have you seen all 6 episodes of “Recovering the Stories: Exploring History and Resilience in Dallas Communities” yet? This documentary series from Dallas TRHT and KERA is just the start of digging into the undertold narratives of Dallas. Watch them today (the link is in our bio) and let us know what you think!

It is still National Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month and today’s ’s book is Mexican Americans in a Dallas Barrio by Shirley Achor. Originally published in 1978, this book vividly describes day-to-day barrio life in Dallas. Achor’s portrayal of the residents challenges stereotypes of traditional Mexican American culture and southwestern barrio life.

Join Bishop Arts Theatre Center and Dallas TRHT for a Rx Racial Healing Circle experience on October 7th from 6-8:30pm. Registration is required and space is limited. Check out the link in our bio!

Going beyond treating the symptoms of racism, Rx Racial Healing methodology works to eradicate the belief in racial hierarchy altogether. Through this work, Rx Racial Healing advocates for implementing long-term policies that recognize the interconnectedness of racial equity in housing, education, health, and economic opportunity and that lead inexorably toward enduring national well-being.

The Rx Racial Healing mission is to generate a critical mass of people committed to working together to end racism and the inequities it has created.

Our special book this week is Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility by Rob Corcoran. It’s the story of how Richmond, Virginia, home to a former slave market, capitol of the Confederacy, and leading proponent of Massive Resistance, has become a seedbed for in*******al dialogue and trustbuilding with national and international implications.

This weekend, Dallas TRHT fellowships with our TRHT family at Initiatives of Change USA in Richmond, Virginia for their International Peace Week Multi-Day Celebration, and met with Rob to learn more about the history of Hope in the Cities and the origins of TRHT. We also participated in the IofC Annual Lecture and Trustbuilding Awards, attended the Elegba Folklore Society Guided Tour of Shockoe Bottom, guided by Omilade Janine Bell, and the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) Workshop, and finished the weekend with IofC’s 4th Annual Intersecting History Museum Crawl! Thank you to Allan Charles Chipman and LaDora Carter for your hospitality and care!

Thank you to every person who contributed to Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation on North Texas Giving Day 2024. You are appreciated and will be receiving a special invitation to a very cool Dallas TRHT event soon!

You still have time to give to Dallas TRHT’s work on North Texas Giving Day! We have a very special announcement in the coming weeks, and will need your support! If you have been impacted, educated, supported and/or changed by Dallas TRHT efforts to make our communities more equitable, let us know in the comments!

Thank you to everyone who has already donated today. We appreciate you!

It is North Texas Giving Day and National Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month! Over the years, Dallas TRHT has shared dozens of books through about our collective narrative so we can learn more about the undertold and erased stories of Dallas and Fort Worth. Help us continue to share by giving to Dallas TRHT today!

Today’s ’s book is Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas by Richard J. Gonzales. Based on articles written for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, author Richard J. Gonzales draws on his educational, inner-city and professional life experiences to weave eyewitness testimony into issues facing Chicanos, including economic, health, education, criminal justice, politics, immigration, and cultural issues. Raza Rising offers first-hand observations, supported by well-documented scholarly research, of Chicanos’ growth and subsequent struggles to participate fully in North Texas’ political and economic life.

Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation is a community based effort to help American communities identify, understand, and overcome the legacy of racism. It focuses on building a collective narrative about racism’s role in the community, connecting people across racial lines, and enacting sustainable policy changes to undo racial disparities. Dallas TRHT is helping North Texas realize these goals.

This change takes time and support, and Dallas TRHT is committed to helping Dallas and Tarrant County become more equitable. Join us! Give to Dallas TRHT now and on North Texas Giving Day 2024!