Racial Healing Through Storytelling

Digital storytelling can serve as a powerful medium for constructively developing empathy and "seeing the world a bit more through someone else's eyes." * Racial healing is a complex and challenging process, which is unique to individuals and different contexts. The approach of the organization "Coming to the Table" offers some specific ways racial healing and reconciliation can be supported, and while not specific to just "digital storytelling," highlights ways the creation, sharing, and dialog around digital stories can be powerful:

1. Uncovering History: researching, acknowledging, and sharing personal, family, community, state, and national histories of race with openness and honesty

2. Making Connections: connecting to others within and across racial lines in order to develop and deepen relationships

3. Working Toward Healing: exploring how we can heal together through dialogue, reunion, ritual, meditation, prayer, ceremony, the arts, apology and other methods

4. Taking Action: actively seeking to dismantle systems of racial inequality, injustice, and oppression; to work for the transformation of our nation.

The following videos address racial issues and have been used / can be used to encourage racial healing. Also see the January 22, 2025 post on HealOurCulture.org, "Racial Healing Through Digital Storytelling."

Oklahoma Stories

The following digital stories are from Oklahoma. The first two focus on Clara Luper and the role she played leading sit-ins for racial justice and equality in Oklahoma City. The third is the personal story of Renee Hall, an Oklahoma teacher who attended the first inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. The latter two videos were created as part of the "Celebrate Oklahoma Voices" project in 2007-2011.

North Carolina Stories

These two videos are the initial installment of a four part series created by Erin Johnson, a staff member at First Baptist Church of Elkin, NC. These were created as a result of a five year, ongoing partnership between pastors and church congregations in Elkin, "Community Connections," led by Rev. Rebecca Husband Maynard.

Learn more by watching presentations by Erin Johnson (at 20:10) and Rebecca (at 36:40) of the January 19, 2025 Community Workshop Service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Elkin, North Carolina.

The Confronting Whiteness course encourages participants to create a "racial autobiography" which can serve as a catalyst for both reflection and dialog about experiences, attitudes, and beliefs relating to racism and white supremacy.

Interested in Learning More?

Check out the RESOURCES section of our website.

* Not everyone agrees that digital storytelling can or should play a role in the development of empathy. The initial statements on this page are my (Wes Fryer's) assertions, based on my experiences with digital stories and digital storytelling workshops in the past.