The relationship between Sharon Morgan and Thomas DeWolf did not get off to a good start. They met at a conference in Virginia. She was a black woman from Chicago, a successful communications writer with a strong interest in genealogy. The descendant of people deeply involved in the slave trade, he was a white man who was the executive director of a West Coast-based nonprofit that focused on the continuing impact of slavery in America.<\/p>\n
She was put off by him. He was not sure how to deal with her. But step by step, they got to know each other and had break-through conversations about their backgrounds.<\/p>\n
During an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d program at Marquette Law School on Tuesday, DeWolf said, \u201cWhat we got to was revealing ourselves to each other in ways that we were taking off the masks. . . . The masks, if you\u2019re willing, can come off.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of Marquette University\u2019s Mission Week program, Morgan and DeWolf spent two days on campus this week, describing what can be gained by dealing seriously and openly with difficult subjects such as the legacy of slavery and the trouble white and black people have in communicating. The theme of this year\u2019s Mission Week is \u201cTruth to Reconciliation, Pathways to Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The efforts of DeWolf and Morgan to learn about each other and the impact of the past led to a shared journey that covered three years, and took them to 27 states (including a 6,000 mile road trip) and several other countries. It led to the 2012 publication of a book they co-authored, \u00a0Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade<\/em>.<\/p>\n DeWolf told the audience in Eckstein Hall that you can name any social indicator in the United States — \u00a0health, education, housing, wealth , and more \u2013 and white people are doing better than people of color. \u201cIt\u2019s better to be white in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s all part of the legacy\u201d of slavery and the way minorities in general (Native Americans particularly) were treated. \u201cIt\u2019s all understandable if we really pay attention to the history of our country,\u201d DeWolf said.<\/p>\n But the two said breaking down the social barriers to learning about others and the lives they lead can be a healing step toward dealing with that legacy and the resulting gaps.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are two normal people,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIf we can do this and come together across the wide geography that separates us, the black and white, the male-female, if we can overcome all of these opposing things and end up with this level of understanding and this amount of peace in our lives, then anybody can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan said, \u201cA lot of people say, \u2018Oh, I have a black friend.\u2019 That is not the answer.\u201d You have to experience their environment and how they were raised, she said.<\/p>\n DeWolf said white people should \u201creally profoundly think about that stark difference between how we are raised in this county.\u201d He said people rationalize behavior that they know is not the kindest, the wisest, the best . But people should get past compromises that diminish their souls and open themselves to really learning about others.<\/p>\n To learn more about Coming to the Table, the non-profit that DeWolf leads,\u00a0 click here.<\/a> To learn more about the book Morgan and DeWolf wrote, click here.<\/a> And to watch the hour-long conversation with Gousha, the Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, click here. \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The relationship between Sharon Morgan and Thomas DeWolf did not get off to a good start. They met at a conference in Virginia. She was a black woman from Chicago, a successful communications writer with a strong interest in genealogy. The descendant of people deeply involved in the slave trade, he was a white man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,57,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","category-race-and-the-law","category-speakers","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27339"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27342,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27339\/revisions\/27342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}