Family members of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee and descendants of people the Lee family enslaved will meet on the very same land their ancestors lived and worked on in a reconciliatory event on Apr. 22.
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The event will take place at Arlington House, located at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. It aims to demonstrate forgiveness, healing and coming together.
Stephen Hammond, a descendent of the Lee family's slaves, said on Greater Boston that interacting with the family has been a goal of his for a long time.
"It's important that we get to know one another because our ancestors existed in this space together," said Hammond.
Susan Glisson, the founding executive director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, which helped to coordinate the event, said the reconcilliation is a sign of hope, and a bright spot during a polarizing time.
"It is a sign that this kind of work, as hard as it can be, it can be done, and the rewards of pushing past the stories that have separated us, that have allowed stereotypes to develop, that have allowed us to stay apart from each other ... we can move past that if we face it honestly, if we face it together," Glisson said.
Watch: Descendants of Robert E. Lee and the people his family enslaved to meet in moment of reconciliation
Editor's note: Susan Glisson is the founding executive director of the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. In the interview, we incorrectly referred to the Institute for Racial Recognition. We regret the error.
