Editor's note: Due to inclement weather, several RRI Week events were postponed. Dates have been updated.

TCU will host its second annual Race & Reconciliation Week beginning Feb. 21 and will resume weather-delayed programming the week of March 14. Through a series of events, TCU’s Race & Reconciliation Initiative is inviting the campus community to come together to engage and explore.

“My hope is that everyone would find an event – or two, or three or five – where they can expand their understanding and grow relationships,” said Frederick Gooding Jr., chair of RRI and Dr. Ronald E. Moore Honors Professor of Humanities in the John V. Roach Honors College.” This event is truly for everyone, and the week is a vital part of what we’re doing with RRI.”

Connection to self and others will be the focus of the Rise and Grind events Feb. 22 – starting with a coffee break at Black Coffee and followed by on-campus yoga in the afternoon – and the Walk with Us rescheduled for March 18. The walk will include a leisurely stroll around the TCU Heritage Trail.

The week will begin with the virtual Sharing in the Struggle event to learn more about the shared experiences of Black and Latinx Americans. The rescheduled keynote by Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. Parker March 16 will reflect on his experiences as the last living witness to his cousin Emmett Till’s abduction, which galvanized the civil rights movement in 1955. The TCU Library has put together an array of resources for more background.

The February week is one of many programs of RRI. Its endeavors include a podcast, periodic town halls and Reconciliation Day, which will be held this year on April 20.

“Broad, cultural change takes time and a willingness to walk with others,” said Gooding. “Our RRI journey has spurred unprecedented engagement, and I look forward to even more.”

The Race & Reconciliation Initiative is an academically-based, historically-focused initiative designed to investigate and document TCU's relationship with slavery, racism and the Confederacy. The endeavor will span multiple years. The focus for 2021-2022 is an intersectional approach to TCU’s founding years, examining the experiences of Native American, Indigenous and Latinx peoples, as well as Black Americans.

Learn more about this year’s RRI Week events.