During this season of Lent, we're committed to taking action against racism.
Browse action items by age or topic and select one or two that you can complete during Lent.
List as many as you can of the privileges and blessings you experience that may have been greater due to your race.
Spend an hour reviewing the National Museum of African American History and Culture webpage on Being Anti-Racist.
Complete the Do the Work Anti-racist activity book.
Take the Harvard Bias Assessment.
Watch Deconstructing White Privilege with Robyn Deangelo, author of White Fragility.
Watch White Men: Time To Learn Our Cultural Blind Spots, a Ted Talk.
If you have a Masterclass membership, watch “Black Freedom, Black History, Black Love.”
Make a list of equity related words, such as woke, (white) privilege, gender non-binary, critical race theory and research them. Add to the list over the next year.
Be prepared to interrupt racial jokes. Watch this video for tips on how to do that.
List 5 accomplishments you worked for then for each one list 5 people, circumstances, or resources that helped you for those achievements.
Eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street. Walk around to look at the murals on the U Street Corridor Walking Tour then clink locator map.
Read three bios from Portrait Gallery - Americans Who Tell The Truth.
Read 5 Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment
Read a genre out of your comfort zone (fiction instead of non-fiction, romance fiction instead of crime fiction) related to social justice, anti-racism, or with main characters of color.
Read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Attend (in-person or by zoom) an adult or youth Sunday School class or the Wednesday evening class during Lent to discuss the video series, How to Fight Racism, by Jemar Tisby, focused on what church member and church actions.
At home, watch the video series, How to Fight Racism, by Jemar Tisby, about 3 hours, on Studygateway.com, with a free account through Mount Olivet.
At home watch the video series, The Color of Compromise, by Jemar Tisby, about 3 hours, on Studygateway.com, with a free account through Mount Olivet.
Watch 13TH | Netflix Official Site
Watch these movies: Selma, The Butler, Just Mercy, and The Green Book.
Talk to your teenage kids about “The Talk” that Black parents have with their kids to survive an encounter with police.
Read about Arlington's Food Security Task Force and NEW Strategic Plan for Food Security.
Volunteer at Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) or Donate to AFAC.
Volunteer at Path Forward (formerly ASPAN) or donate to Path Forward.
Volunteer with Our Lady Queen of Peace food pantry.
Financially support local minority children by purchasing uniforms and admissions fees to participate in Arlington County youth sports programs.
Drop Clothing off at Greenbriar Baptist Church - Parking lot at Corner of S. Greenbriar and S. 7th Road.
Drop Clothing off at Casa Mira Flor - at 4701 Arlington Blvd - Wed and Thursday 11 AM to 4 PM.
Support a local Arlington Black-owned business.
Serve meals at Martha’s Table in DC each week between now and summer.
Visit Dorothy Hamm Middle School. Read the historic markers about the Black students who were the first to integrate a Virginia public school. Learn about Dorothy Hamm for whom the school (formerly Stratford Junior High School) was named.
Read the memoir/journalism Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County (VA), by Kristen Green about school segregation. 349 pages, about 10 hours or available at Arlington Library.
Research Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Consider attending one that has an exceptional program in your interest area.
Read an argument critical of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Read an article defending CRT. Find other articles to compare.
Research affirmative action and prepare 3 points you could use in a discussion.
Lyon’s Legacy V: Laws, Land, and White Hoods
Lyons Legacy (includes advocacy for Arlington missing middle initiative.) Read an article critical of the missing middle initiative.
Read this NPR article about redlining in NoVA including Arlington.
Tour Arlington House with special emphasis on the exhibits and information about the enslaved people who resided there and Freedman’s Village. Share the new things that you learned with family and friends.
Read this fun story WAMU story about Hall’s Hill, an historically Black neighborhood near Mount Olivet. After church walk to the football field and notice the historical marker for the segregation wall near 4715 17th Road North.
Visit The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, Virginia
Explore Alexandria’s Black History and Culture
Visit Arlington Historical Museum
Visit the African-American History at ANC
Visit Wrought, Knit, Labors, Legacies
Visit Alexandria African American Heritage Park
Visit In Memoriam 2022: Joseph McCoy April 23, 1897
Read McCoy-Lynching-Narrative.pdf
Read In Memoriam 2022: Benjamin Thomas August 8, 1899
Read Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror
Read Lynching in Virginia
Watch this link to Arlington Library's Nikole Hannah-Jones presentation about past and current racist history in our area. There is a long intro; start at minute 16.
Read about and visit this Arlington historical marker.
Complete this Black History Month scavenger hunt.
Interview one or more adults about their experience or memories of the civil rights era.
Read about and visit this Greater H Street NE (DC) Heritage Trail and eat at a Black-owned restaurant on H Street NE.
Research the controversy over antebellum homes and plantations as wedding venues.
Tour the Arlington Black Heritage Museum. Identify information about Arlington’s history that is new to you and conduct further research.
Read articles about renaming Lee Highway to Langston Boulevard and other renaming efforts.
United States Colored Troops and Arlington House
Watch this online class called “We Return Fighting: African Americans in WWI”.
Listen to the song “Freedom Road” then read about Langston Hughes and the Double V Campaign (1944-1945), about winning victory abroad and equal rights at home.
Learn the words of Lift Every Voice and Sing, known as the Black national anthem, #519 in the United Methodist Hymnal.
Watch Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World | The Foundation | PBS
Watch the Ken Burns documentary about Mohammed Ali, on PBS.org.
Reflect on your first reaction to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem then watch this YouTube video of Beto O’Rourke. What are your current feelings toward similar, ongoing protest movements (kneeling, sport team protest tee shirts, etc.)?
Before there was Colin Kaepernick, there was Mahmoud Abdul-Ruaf. Watch this video. What are your current feelings toward similar, ongoing protest movements (kneeling, sport team protest tee shirts, etc.)?
Watch Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism with a subscription on Netflix.
Watch The 1619 Project on with a Hulu subscription.
Listen to one video or podcast from Mount Olivet’s weekly racial resources each week of Lent.
Spend at least 5 hours at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Timed tickets are required during peak seasons.
Visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
Visit or revisit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to review its reckoning with enslavement.
Check your voter registration.
Learn more about the history of voting rights in Virginia Black Women and the Right to Vote | The History You Didn't Learn | TIME - YouTube
Read about why you should vote: “If You Don’t Vote, You Don’t Count” from Arlington Library.
Learn more about the 15th Amendment and the history of voting rights.
Watch a Martha S. Jones on Black Women & the Suffrage Movement | Library of Congress