North Parkers explore racial reconciliation through the first post-pandemic Sankofa trip.
About 40 North Park students, staff, and faculty fully immersed themselves in the Sankofa experience last February, following several years of scaled-back versions of the event.
The Sankofa experience, funded by a grant from the Lilly foundation and culminating in a 60-hour bus ride across a select region of the United States, is modeled after the Civil Rights era Freedom Rides. During the trip, participants explore the theological, political, and cultural dimensions of racial reconciliation and human wholeness. In the weeks leading up to the trip, the Sankofa group engages in readings, discussions, film screenings, and classes.
“Sankofa as racial reconciliation isn’t something we do because it’s the new thing,” said Tony Zamble, director of University Ministries. “It flows from our understanding of the Gospel.”
“Sankofa as racial reconciliation isn’t something we do because it’s the new thing, it flows from our understanding of the Gospel.” —Tony Zamble, Director of University Ministries
The 2023 trip traveled to the Southeast, with stops in Washington, D.C., to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture; Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
Previous Sankofa trips have taken participants to Birmingham, Alabama, and to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
“One of the best parts about Sankofa is that everyone who got on that bus didn’t have to, but they did,” said Campus Pastor and Athletic Chaplain Dr. Terence Gadsden.
During a special chapel service held after the 2023 trip, students spoke about why they chose to get on the bus.
“I wanted to learn more about what isn’t taught in school,” Amir Fakhari said.
“My goal was to sharpen my craft in history, to become the best I can be,” said Jeremiah Thomas, adding the most poignant moment of the trip for him was seeing his own name on a list of slaves at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
For Brooklyn Seals, the most important moment of the trip was standing in line to view Emmett Till’s casket, which was recently donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., another stop for the group.
“To be standing there, in that line, just like they had in Chicago so many years ago, and knowing we live in Chicago. I reflected on how we were doing the same thing. That was intense,” Seals said.