Frequently Asked Questions
RRI is an academically based, historically focused initiative designed to investigate and document TCU's relationship with slavery, racism and the Confederacy. Our purpose is to research and raise awareness of racism and inequality, helping us work toward a campus culture where everyone is respected and valued.
In addition to our research, the RRI made seven recommendations to the TCU Board of Trustees to move our campus toward reconciliation and healing. All of these recommendations were unanimously supported by the Board of Trustees in April 2021. Some additional highlights:
- Installation of mural “Reconciliation is more beautiful than victory,” designed by TCU studio art students, in the Intellectual Commons
- Honorary doctorates for Jennifer Giddings Brooks, Ed.D., and James Cash, Ph.D., two trailblazers during TCU’s early years of integration
- Installation of portrait of Jennifer Giddings Brooks, Ed.D., TCU’s first Black homecoming queen, in Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center
- Installation of statue of James Cash, Ph.D., TCU’s first Black student-athlete, in front of Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena
- Reunion and reconciliation with slave descendant communities whose forebears, Charley and Kate Thorp, provided instrumental contributions to the university during its founding years
- Bestowing annual Plume Award on founding members of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Initiative, who have modeled positive ways to respect, support and incorporate Native Americans at TCU
In addition to our website and the TCU online calendar, you can stay connected to RRI through our social media:
The RRI provides a range of ways to stay connected to our efforts.
Explore the RRI Oral History Project archived in the Mary Couts Burnett Library Special Collections.
Listen to Reconcile This!, an academic podcast associated with RRI and the Universities Studying Slavery Consortium. Tune in to hear inaugural chair Dr. Frederick Gooding, Jr., and Graduate Research assistant Marcellis Perkins, as they interview guests who share a passion for "doing the work" of reconciliation.
Watch our Town Hall video series from 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Examine some of the artifacts that we have uncovered in our research.
Follow us on social media.
Comment on and share our stories.
Attend our events on campus.
Purchase RRI merchandise at the TCU Bookstore.
TCU provides an annual budget to support the research, programming and outreach performed by the Race & Reconciliation Initiative.
The RRI is a five-year research initiative that was launched in 2020. As of fall 2023, we are in Year 4, focusing on recent but related histories (1998-2020).