Trauma-Informed and Restorative-Focused
Partners embrace a trauma-informed approach to research and memorialization, centering health, justice, and equity for communities most impacted by historical and contemporary racial terror.
Growing a Statewide Coalition
Our goal is to foster a statewide approach to understanding anti-Black terror, acknowledging the geographic breadth of Illinois. Initial core partners represent the Chicago, Springfield, and East Saint Louis areas, with goals to expand in all directions.
Collaboration and Networking
The project serves to support and create connections between organizations, communities, researchers, and cultural and memory workers that have equity, justice, and reparation as their core missions. Contact us to learn how you can participate and contribute.
Project Plans
The core project activities are a trip for Illinois residents to the Equal Justice Initiative sites in Montgomery, Alabama in September 2024 – the nation’s most significant institution for commemorating racial violence – with a follow-up symposium and workshop in Springfield, Illinois, April 4-5, 2025. Our intended audience for the workshop and symposium consists of members of communities impacted by the legacy of anti-Black terror, community members, and cultural professionals engaged in the research and commemoration of such events; higher education academic researchers, scholars, and teachers; secondary and middle grades social science teachers; undergraduate and graduate students; and state, local, and federal governmental officials.
2025 Symposium and Workshop–REGISTRATION OPEN!
The Journeys to Justice Symposium and Workshop will be held Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, in Springfield, Illinois. The program includes tours, receptions, panels, workshops, presentations, performances, and speakers centered on reparative practice in the context of the history and legacies of anti-Black terror in Illinois and beyond. All aspects of the program embrace a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation approach to discussing historical and contemporary themes.
All events are free, but require registration. If you have questions, suggestions, or an interest in presenting, please contact us.
We will update the Symposium and Workshop page frequently as the program elements are confirmed.
Partners
Journeys to Justice partners include organizations that support the project mission and values, and promote project events and programs. Contact us to learn more about becoming a partner. Our growing list of partners includes:
Sponsors and Supporters
Journeys to Justice is primarily funded through an Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grant. IIN supports “projects that translate research into activities that directly affect lives, address complex social problems, build trusted partnerships in the community, demonstrate longer-term engagement or depth of engagement, and are scalable or replicable.”
Additional Support
Conveners
Peter Cole, Western Illinois University Department of History and the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project
Devin Hunter, University of Illinois Springfield History Department
Lesa Johnson, University of Illinois Springfield Sociology and Anthropology Department
Tandra Taylor, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Institute for Community Justice and Racial Equity
Project Support Team
Isabella Davidsmeyer, Courtney Mason, and Mikalya Rodgers