Tuesday night was a time for healing, love and celebration during the seventh annual Greater Williamsburg National Day of Racial Healing.
More than 100 people attended the event, which is sponsored annually by the Virginia Racial Healing Institute to celebrate unity and diversity within the Historic Triangle area. This year’s theme was “Healing Through The Arts” and featured poetry readings by Lacroy Nixon, Williamsburg’s poet laureate, and Ashlie Chamberliss, a junior at Williamsburg Christian Academy.
Nixon and Chamberliss both recited their poems “Spiderverse” and “Life of An American Girl,” respectively, at the event.
The ceremony also honored the life of Williamsburg storyteller Dylan Pritchett, who died in August. Lovingly known as the city’s griot — an African storyteller and oral historian — Pritchett served as Colonial Williamsburg’s first African American program specialist and became a popular storyteller across the country. Adam Cannady, a carriage driver and coachman historian for Colonial Williamsburg, gave a musical drum performance in tribute to Pritchett.
The area’s observance of the National Day of Racial Healing has grown since its start as a 2020 church potluck dinner, said Laura Hill, director of the Virginia Racial Healing Institute. Despite challenges from the Covid pandemic and nationwide racial unrest that year, Hill said the nonprofit, aimed at improving the community’s health and well-being, soldiered on. The challenges resulted in the organization focusing on community engagement and organization partnerships to help the Greater Williamsburg area heal.
Since then, the event, which is traditionally held the Tuesday after the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, has worked to bring community members, organizations and both city and James City County officials together. Hill reflected on an attendee who spoke highly of the event, noting the positivity it brings compared to the division shown in the news.
“This event brings people together,” Hill said. “It feels good to be here and to find out about what’s good going on in the community.”
However, the event is more than just bringing people together. It’s about people networking, building relationships and collaborating on programs that help transform the community, she said. The institute’s work with Williamsburg leaders led to the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which studies the impact of racism and racial injustice on city residents — historically and presently — and makes recommendations to City Council.
Williamsburg is the only city in Virginia with such a committee and one of the 30 in the nation, Hill said. The nonprofit is also a founding member of the Juneteenth Community Consortium, which plans activities for the Juneteenth holiday.
The event also honored 10 recipients for its fourth annual Table Builders Awards. The awards recognize people and organizations for their work in bridging racial divide in the community. This year’s recipients included:
Pritchett was honored posthumously with an award for Outstanding Storyteller. Both his daughter and son, Shannon Morgan and Dylan Pritchett Jr. accepted it on his behalf. Pritchett Jr. said that his father taught people where they came from, where they currently are and where they are going in life.
“Learn the story of your family,” Pritchett Jr. said. “Williamsburg, local, personal, but honor your griots. Honor your elders. Honor the people whose shoulders you stand on.”
