Collecting Stories of Black Alumni

“The book helps me better understand what reconciliation is— what reconciliation to God is, and reconciliation to one another,” Eaton said. “We throw around this term ‘reconciliation,’ but I don’t think we really know what it means, and I think that Powery is saying here by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit that we can repair the breaches—the breaches of racialization and the breaches of racism and other kinds of divisions that get in the way of human flourishing.”

Another important aspect of the book for Eaton was how the spirituals are woven throughout it, including in the chapter titles.

“That’s powerful because I think the spirituals can help us to feel the pain and to tell the stories of despair of African Americans and those who were enslaved,” she said. “Those spirituals really aid in ushering us into humanity.”

To learn more about Becoming Human, visit chapel.duke.edu/ BecomingHuman.

Aresearch team led by the Rev. Dr. Keith M. Daniel, T ’90, D ’05 and ’16, is interviewing Black alumni from four universities in North and South Carolina—Davidson College, Duke University, Furman University, and Johnson C. Smith University.

“The time is ripe to listen to Black alumni from these schools—to affirm their truths, to honor their pain, and to be inspired by their resilience,” Daniel says. “Identifying and amplifying these stories should help us recognize how the resilience of Black lives has contributed to moving our institutions from good to greater—and where we still need to grow.”

Above: The project research team (left to right): the Rev. Dr. Sterling E. Freeman; Madison Daniel II, D '24; Queron U. Smith; the Rev. Dr. M. Keith Daniel, l, T ’90, D ’05 and ’16; and Jasmine C. Smith. Below: Rev. Dr. Daniel gives a presentation on the project on October 2, 2022.

So far the team has conducted forty-nine interviews with alumni across the four schools. Once the interviews are completed, excerpts of the stories will be compiled with photo portraits and published by the Chapel. People interested in being interviewed, or with recommendations for interview subjects, are invited to contact Rev. Dr. Daniel at kd1@duke.edu.