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On January 26-29, 2006 Descendants of slave owners, slave traders and enslaved people gathered for a historic event that would realize Martin Luther King’s dream- “that the Descendants of slaves and slave owners… would sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” Descendants of five families came together to share their time, their stories and their truths with each other.
On January 26th, 21 participants traveled across the country from as far away as Los Angeles and Seattle. They all converged in a room on EMU’s campus overlooking Virginia’s Blueridge mountains, mountains that very recently-- in their lifespan -- saw slavery and the civil war.
The morning of the second day started with further introductions of the family groups; they represented descendants of the Hairstons, Jeffersons, Moncures, DeWolfs and McArthurs. Each group represented a different level of connectedness. Some participants had interacted many times over many years. One Following introductions, panelists, who were invited to talk about the institution of slavery from a historical perspective, talked with the group. Diane Swann Wright- a historian who researched slavery in Virginia said “From the very beginning of the African presence in America up until today, laws and reinforced social practices have worked to handicap and put people of African descent at a disadvantage. This has influenced the development of an African American culture. The legacy of slavery continues to impact us because slavery had two children, discrimination and racism and they are both alive today.”
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The criteria for attendance was ancestry of enslavement and/or slave ownership; experience meeting someone from the “other side”; willingness and desire to speak about family history as well as the current day impacts of the legacy of slavery; and support of the vision and mission of the initiative. The criteria were expanded to include those who descended from people who engaged in slave-trading. 
David Anderson Hooker, professor at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding spoke about how if trauma is not healed it is passed down through generations. Cheryl Talley, professor of psychology at James Madison University talked about race as “a made up conversation. If we created it, we can uncreate it” she said. She also spoke of events such as this one creating a new cultural story of “an intergenerational, interracial family.” In addition to these presentations, participants experienced a workshop that pointed to ways to begin healing from trauma through speaking about and listening to each others hurts related to racism in order to free ourselves from the trauma that separates us from living to our potential and connecting with each other. 
participant was going to meet her counterpart for the first time in person, but unfortunately, a last minute funeral and difficulties in travel inhibited her from coming, so only one of the pair participated in the weekend.