“You can’t understand most of the important things
from a distance . . . You have to get close.”

― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption

Rouse soil collection ceremony 12-11-2019

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Why participate in our events?

You learn. You grow.  You meet good people and become part of a community. You help to make things better.  You “get close”.

As Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative states: “We must get ‘proximate’ to suffering and understand the nuanced experiences of those who suffer from and experience inequality. if you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering, you will find the power to change the world.”

The Power of "Getting Close"

During recent public tours to the sites relating to the racial terror lynching of Mr. Fred Rouse, as part of DNAWORKS’s program in partnership with TCCPJ entitled Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse, many participants commented on their reactions standing in front of the former City and County Hospital.

They expressed being moved by the mere presence of the structure. As it pertains to the racial terror lynching of Mr. Fred Rouse, the former hospital is the only structure that still stands. The building in The Stockyards where Mr. Rouse worked was demolished many years ago, and the “Death Tree” was cut down in December 1921. Participants were visibly moved by being able to look at the actual hospital building and envision what happened that fateful evening of Sunday, December 11, 1921.

One woman said, “I have lived in Fort Worth all my life. I have been to Bass Hall many times, and I never knew that this building represented a story of Black history in Fort Worth. I feel that the history of my people has been hidden from me. The history of Black people in Fort Worth has been suppressed.”

The Power of "Getting Close"

During recent public tours to the sites relating to the racial terror lynching of Mr. Fred Rouse, as part of DNAWORKS’s program in partnership with TCCPJ entitled Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse, many participants commented on their reactions standing in front of the former City and County Hospital.

They expressed being moved by the mere presence of the structure. As it pertains to the racial terror lynching of Mr. Fred Rouse, the former hospital is the only structure that still stands. The building in The Stockyards where Mr. Rouse worked was demolished many years ago, and the “Death Tree” was cut down in December 1921. Participants were visibly moved by being able to look at the actual hospital building and envision what happened that fateful evening of Sunday, December 11, 1921.

One woman said, “I have lived in Fort Worth all my life. I have been to Bass Hall many times, and I never knew that this building represented a story of Black history in Fort Worth. I feel that the history of my people has been hidden from me. The history of Black people in Fort Worth has been suppressed.”