Tables of Conscience Dinners
We still have some spots at our Tables of Conscience book-themed dinner in November. Please consider attending, each reservation brings us closer to our goal of raising $6,000 this academic year to honor Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas with scholarships in their names and help two high school students pay for higher education.
Whether you can make a November dinner or not, we would like you to think outside the gift box this holiday season and consider giving someone an experience that will change them, bring them new friends and have a positive impact on our community - A Tables of Conscience Dinner! Imagine unwrapping The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman or Crusade for Justice, by Ida B. Wells, but wait, there is more, a dinner and discussion about the book at the home of an ACRP member is part of this special present.
Each reservation costs $125 (the book must be purchased separately) and all proceeds go directly to Alexandria’s Memorial Scholarship Program. Pick a book you want to read or want to give as a gift and reserve a space to attend the dinner. Then go to the ACRP campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria to donate the ticket amount. (Don’t forget to include your name). The location of the dinner is revealed along with the host a week beforehand.
The Dinners
A Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, Michael Eric Dyson
Friday, Nov. 14
6-9 p.m.
2 Tickets Left!
The Department of Defense was so concerned about Americans finally starting to grapple with racism, that they banned Michael Eric Dyson’s book, Long Time Coming. In a collection of letters written to recent victims of racial violence: Elijah McClain, Emmett Till, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Hadiya Pendleton, Sandra Bland, and the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Dyson exposed the anti-Blackness that infiltrates our culture, feeds police violence and injustice. The award-winning author, a professor at Georgetown University and an ordained Baptist minister, shares a way toward healing by the end of the book. The Equal Justice Initiative’s Bryan Stevenson has called the book both formidable and compelling with “much to offer on our nation’s crucial need for racial reckoning and the way forward.”
Reserve a space here for free, then pay $125 per ticket by donating on our campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.
The Hill We Climb, Amanda Gorman
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026
6-9 p.m.
10 Tickets Available
The poem, The Hill We Climb, was written and performed by the young poet, Amanda Gorman, at the inauguration of President Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021. While it acknowledges the divisions that are deeply rooted in our history, the poem offers a hopeful message about the future, about unity and justice.
Reserve a space here for free, then pay $125 per ticket by donating on our campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.
The Origin of Others, Toni Morrison
Saturday, Feb. 7
6-9 p.m.
This short, impactful book by Toni Morrison draws on a series of lectures she gave at Harvard University about fear of the other. Morrison reflects on the desire to belong and the impact race, fear, borders, and immigration have on this essential human need. She includes her own work when she examines how literature has played a role, both negative and positive, in such constructions. While this book has not yet been banned, the author has been and that’s why we believe it fits this series of Tables of Conscience.
Reserve a space here for free, then pay $125 per ticket by donating on our campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.
Crusade for Justice, Ida B. Wells
Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026
6-9 p.m.
10 Tickets Available
Ida B. Wells' autobiography inspires readers to stand up and speak up for justice. Her pros are not antiquated; on the contrary, they are clear, concise, and direct. This book provides an intimate insight into the perspective of a woman born into slavery, who grew up watching Black people become citizens, write state constitutions, and serve in legislatures, only to then see their positions and rights taken away. Her parents died when she was young, and she taught school while taking care of her younger siblings. She began writing for the church newspaper and discovered her talent for reporting. She soon became the voice of her generation; she was as much a civil rights crusader as those who came after her.
Reserve a space here for free, then pay $125 per ticket by donating on our campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.