The large basement at the Church of the Holy Trinity was packed with over a hundred Vicksburg movers and shakers. County commissioners and business leaders, plus regular folks like me. Spring of 2022, we were attending the Becoming Beloved Community Episcopal Church Mississippi Day of Dialogue. We’d learned new concepts and shared our stories and now, at the end of our day, we were talking tourism.

Tourism is a big deal in Vicksburg. Vicksburg National Military Park spreads its palm across the city’s landscape, a physical reminder of the city’s role in the Cvil War. As my table discussed the future of local tourism, no one mentioned the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Vicksburg Massacres.

The Massacres had become pivotal to me. On a journey of familial discovery, I learned my ancestor participated in the Reconstruction-era Massacres. In 1874, a white mob demanded Warren County’s duly elected African American sheriff resign, and, when he refused, the mob went on a murderous rampage. When I asked those at the table if there were any plans to commemorate this major anniversary, no one knew what I was talking about.

Later, I learned Vicksburg’s massacres weren’t unique. Killings of innocent Black Americans by mobs of white Americans shred our history. What was unique was how totally and effectively the “memory” of the Vicksburg Massacres had been buried.

As one at our table summarized our conversation to the larger group, the woman next to me said, “Ask them your question.”

I did not want to ask my question. We were at the feel-good part of the day where we came together over a unifying topic. And she wanted me to bring up the Massacres?

She wouldn’t look away.

I stood up.

“My ancestor was an instigator of the 1874 Vicksburg Massacres,” I said, because I wasn’t going to ask without disclosing why. “John Hebron. He’s in the Congressional Record of the hearings about the rampaging that took place after Sheriff Crosby was deposed. I was wondering if there are any plans for the Massacres’ 150th anniversary?”

The facilitator at the podium glanced around the silent room. “I’m not familiar with what you’re talking about,” he finally said. “But I promise you, I intend to find out.”

Two and a half years after that promise, the Mississippi Beloved Community co-hosted a Weekend of Remembrance on the Vicksburg Massacres.

The December 6th, 2024 weekend opened with a talk hosted by historic Bethel AME Church. The talk was led by Dr. Albert Dorsey, Jr., Jackson State University assistant history professor and author of an upcoming book on Vicksburg and Redeemer violence, and Dr. Beth Kruse, a Fellow of the Andrew Mellon Foundation partnering with the National Park Service on the African American experience from the Civil War through Reconstruction. The event deepened as members of the community asked question after question.

Saturday offered a traditional African Libation Ceremony on the grounds of the National Park near where killings took place. The Rev. Andy Andrews, Missioner for Becoming Beloved Communities and Congregational Vitality, offered the Invocation. Sunday morning, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, a historically Black Episcopal church, hosted a Service of Sacred Remembering and Empowering. The Church of the Holy Trinity, a traditionally white church where the Day of Dialogue took place, joined in officiating. Names of twenty-three known victims were read, candles lit, and bells rung.

If life is learning to hold two paradoxical things in the palm at once, this weekend was a master class for me. At Saturday’s Libation Ceremony, the Park Superintendent asked descendants of those murdered to stand. Unexpectedly, she then asked descendants of the instigators to stand. I stood, alone, but surrounded by my Beloved Community. Later, Rev. Andrews asked how it felt, standing up. “I stood to be whatever anyone needed me to be,” I told him, “Including the physical embodiment of my ancestor’s sins, as well as the forgiveness of those sins.” Again on Sunday, when I was called to offer the Telling of the Massacres, I experienced both the pin-drop solemnity of the moment and the joyous embrace by the St. Mary’s congregation.

The remembering will continue in February 2025 when Catfish Row Museum focuses on telling the story of Sheriff Crosby and hosts an African American genealogy workshop. In spring, a state historical marker honoring Sheriff Crosby will be erected on public land in Vicksburg.

If anyone ever tells you a Day of Dialogue is all talk, share with them this story of a Day of Dialogue birthing the Mississippi Beloved Community’s holding hands with the Vicksburg community in a moment of sacred remembering. And rejoice.