Sunday Program

Title: “Into the Thicket: The PECAN Project and an Exploration into the Ecology of Grief and Repair”

Speaker:  DaLyah Dee Jones

This talk explores the intertwined histories of the Thicket, Black placemaking/maroonage in Deep East Texas, and the legacies of racial terror that sought to uproot it. We trace efforts to reclaim space for repair and justice. Weaving together folklore, oral histories, and emerging work to quantify what is owed to Afro-Texans, this talk asks what it means to pursue reparations as an ecological practice rooted in land, memory, and collective care.

DaLyah Jones is an eighth-generation Afro-Texan born and raised behind the “Pine Curtain” of rural Deep East Texas. A cultural strategist, journalist, and organizer, her work sits at the intersection of narrative power, community repair, and Black Southern memory.

Previously, DaLyah served as program officer for the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy, director of engagement at the Texas Observer.

Her writing and reporting have appeared in Texas Monthly, Texas Highways Magazine, NBC Think, Okayplayer, The Texas Observer, The Guardian, Scalawag Magazine, and NPR member stations, among others.

Please stay for coffee and conversation after the service.

Child Care will be available.