The Texas Christian University community is excited to host its second annual Reconciliation Day April 20.

The event will include a panel discussion, an announcement of progress made on seven recommendations issued in the 2021 First-Year Survey Report and celebratory entertainment. The event also will feature an update on RRI Post-doctoral Fellow Sylviane Greensword’s research on Charley and Kate Thorp – a formerly enslaved African American couple who were instrumental in building the infrastructure that became the first home of Texas Christian University in Thorp Spring, Texas – and welcome several of the Thorps living descendants as guests.

“As progress is always a process, we must consciously create the community we crave. 4/20 represents an opportunity for us to come together so we can move forward together,” said Frederick Gooding Jr., chair of TCU’s Race & Reconciliation Initiative. “Ultimately, what I wish for as outgoing chair of TCU's RRI is that enough good people discover tangible evidence that our efforts are not in vain. I am hopeful that if folks come out in support of Reconciliation Day, more will become encouraged by the tangible momentum that is building and will want to continue to participate as we proceed down the path toward reconciliation.”

The day’s panel discussion will be moderated by Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. and feature guests Gooding, Greensword, Karen Steele, associate vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, and graduate research assistants Amy Ceniceros and Marcellis Perkins.

The discussion and presentations will take place in the BLUU Auditorium beginning at 11 a.m. and follow (weather permitting) with a celebration in the Campus Commons that includes a Ballet Folklorico group, African drummers and Native American dancers.

“Ultimately, the object of our reconciliation project is not to revolutionize our institution within several months – this is patently not feasible and this expectation sets us up for failure,” Gooding said. “Rather, we aim to point our institution in a new direction as we make our determination to pursue reconciliation with determination.”

TCU’s Reconciliation Day is part of the university’s Race & Reconciliation Initiative. The effort began in July 2020 with the chancellor and TCU Board of Trustees instituting an academic endeavor that would examine TCU’s history with racism, slavery and the Confederacy. In its inaugural year, the TCU Race & Reconciliation Initiative committee – consisting of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni and board members – spent nine months intensely researching three specific time periods to better understand TCU’s history. Their findings were shared with the TCU community with the release of the Race & Reconciliation First-Year Survey Report at last year’s inaugural Reconciliation Day. The report includes an overview of each time period studied and a brief discussion of recent histories, as well as the committee’s Official Race & Reconciliation Initiative recommendations for the university, which were unanimously approved by the TCU Board of Trustees in April 2021 and are slated to be institutionalized by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion moving forward.

This year’s Reconciliation Day will serve as an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the progress of the initiative. Students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to come together for a day of reflection, education and commemoration.

“I wish for attendees to walk away with a glimpse of the TCU we can truly be,” Gooding said. “If we all can join together in the name of food, fellowship and festivities, then there is untold potential we have yet to fully uncover if our many shades of purple are of one accord.”

Learn more about the day’s events.