2023

November 19, 2023
The Braxton Institute West in collaboration with Plymouth Church UCC, Seattle:
”Sacred Bonds: A Service of Transgender Remembrance,” Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton preaching.

October 18, 2023
The Braxton Institute West in collaboration with Plymouth Church UCC, Seattle, welcomes the Rev. Dr. Yvonne V. Delk: Mother Delk is joined in dialogue by Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown, senior Pastor of Plymouth UCC, and Rev. Joanne M. Braxton, PhD, the Braxton Institute for Sustainability, Resiliency and Joy.

June 2-4, 2023
Braxton Institute Board Retreat
The Braxton Institute Board of Directors gathered at Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, Maryland. The Retreat included sessions on strategic planning and visioning as well as times for collective meditation, reflection and healing music.
In attendance were board members Joanne Braxton, Rebecca Parker, Richael Faithful, Ari Pak, Rehema Kutua, Nigel Hatton, Jerome Carter, Mary Williard and Communications Officer Sophie Bouwsma.

Braxton Institute continues infrastructure development and branding initiatives with consultant Andrew Smith (Sophia Bouwsma, Ari Pak, Jerome Carter, Rebecca Parker, Joanne Braxton).

Braxton Institute gains non-profit charitable fundraising status in three new states. We can now legally pursue fundraising activities in Washington, D.C., Delaware, Virginia, Maryland and Washington State (Mary Williard).

The Board of Directors of the Braxton Institute enters into a covenant with the Board of Plymouth United Church of Christ, Seattle to strengthen, support, and sustain the ministries of the partners that share in this covenant and to observe, nurture, celebrate, and call forth the ministries that evolve in partnership between Plymouth UCC and the Braxton Institute. Plymouth UCC becomes the west coast campus of the Braxton Institute.

March 3, 2023
Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts 2023 – University of Chicago Department of Cinema Studies
“In 1976, an extraordinary group of Black feminist artists and activists—Michele Wallace, Faith Ringgold, Patricia Jones, Margo Jefferson, and Monica Freeman—co-organized the first ever Black women’s film festival: the Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts. The festival, held at New York’s Women’s Interart Center, powerfully linked Black women’s filmmaking to other artforms: Ntozake Shange and Joanne Braxton gave poetry readings, Faith Ringgold debuted a performance piece, Camille Billups lectured on art history, and an array of artists participated in panel discussions. Situating new film-work by Black women within a broader Black feminist arts ecosystem, the festival was simultaneously a celebration of the emerging world of Black women’s filmmaking as well as a radical call for the kinds of socio-political and institutional changes necessary for a Black women’s film culture to thrive.” Four decades later, The Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts at the University of Chicago, March 2-4, 2023 commemorated the original festival. Dr. Braxton, one of the participants in the 1976 festival, represented herself and the Institute, reading her poetry, sharing perspectives on the growth of Afra-American culture over time, “friend raising,” and building new relationships.

February 28, 2023
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Black Genealogy and Reparative Justice: Honoring the Ancestors, Restoring Our Families.” This program brings together a group of courageous descendants of Jesuit enslavement who spend long hours in genealogical libraries and state archives documenting the paths of ancestors separated by the internal slave trade, focusing on the connections between Maryland and Louisiana. Using DNA and the tools of genetic genealogy, they meet “new” relatives whose connections are unknown, as well as fresh opportunities for re-membering, re-claiming and memorializing those enslaved ancestors whose identities and stories are being returned to us by the tender care of these descendants. Panelists: Cousin Lynn Locklear Nehemiah, DDS, Cousin Kevin Porter, Cousin Mélisande Short-Colomb, and Cousin Karran Harper Royal. Moderator: Cousin Joanne Braxton. Respondent: Professor Jody Lynn Allen, William & Mary.

2022

December 8, 2022
United Church of Christ Ministerial Excellence and Support “Breaking Open” Associate Conference Minister training. Braxton Institute provides a workshop led by Dr. Parker on “Trauma-Informed Care” for UCC national leadership.

September 27-29, 2022
UCC Antoinette Brown Society Clergywomen’s Leadership Event, September 27-29 in Decatur, Ga. Dr. Braxton and Dr. Parker represent the Braxton Institute at “For Such a Time: to Connect, Confront, and Create at the Intersection of Race and Gender and Ministry.” Established relationships with African American Women in Ministry and thought leaders like Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk and Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown. Fiscal support from UCC in consideration of service.

May 4, 2022
William & Mary dedication at Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved.
Jerome Carter, Joanne Braxton, and Richael Faithful are in leadership at W&M, as two decades of efforts to create a memorial to the enslaved at W&M are publicly recognized and realized.

January 11, 2022
“National Conference on Moral Injury In Wake of the Pandemic.” Braxton Institute created Liturgy (opening and closing rituals) National Cathedral, Washington, DC.

Publication of “The Fundamental Role of Arts and Humanities in Medical Education”

2021

25k Healing and Transformative Justice Grant – Richael Faithful, Joanne Braxton, Rebecca Parker, Mary Williard (2021) Infrastructure, programming, BI retreat.

Publication: “Mapping the Terrain of Moral Suffering” in Perspectives in Medicine and Biology– Joanne Braxton, Eric Busse, Cynda Hylton Rushton (2021)

Presentation at American Academy of Religion: “Covid 19, Black Clinicians and Moral Suffering”– Joanne Braxton, Nigel Hatton (2021) *scholarship ongoing

April 20, 2021
“On the Outrage of Black Mothers: Healing the Past in the Present” - 27th Annual Shallenberger lecture by Joanne M. Braxton, PhD. Sponsored by Johns Hopkins Hospital Ethics Committee and the Berman Center for Bioethics.

Signed on to HR 40

Covid 19 Response: TREE OF LIFE: BLACK FAITH MATTERS IN A TIME OF DUAL PANDEMICS SEMINARS

• January 26, 2021
  Seminar 1: “God of Our Silent Tears: Breaking Through Silence to Name our Suffering” with panelists Dr. Derrick McQueen, Dr. Nigel Hatton, and Dr. Faith Fletcher, and moderated by Dr. Joanne Braxton.

• February 23, 2021
  Seminar 2: “Identifying the Sources of Our Spiritual Wellbeing in the Face of Trauma and Disruption.” Focus: “Black Faith Matters for Our Children” with panelists Prof. Omiyemi Artisia Green, Dr. Warrenetta Mann, and Rehema Kutua, M.D, moderated by Dr. Joanne Braxton.

• March 30, 2021
  Seminar 3: “Prayer and Ritual: Deepening Understanding of Our Diverse African American Identities and Spiritualities” with panelists Rev. Michelle Freeman, Venerable Ayesha Ali, Sheikh Issa Chisty, Richael Faithful, Dr. Chenzira Davis Kehina, and Rehema Kutua, moderated by Dr. Joanne Braxton.

2020

10k Henry B. Luce Foundation grant for “Black Faith Matters in a Time of Dual Pandemics.” 2.5 k supplement from W&M Lemon Project; W&M Lemon Project (2020) – Joanne Braxton, Rebecca Parker, Mary Williard & Richael Faithful.

December 10, 2020
Hastings Center (Virtual) Annual Fellows Meeting “Bioethics and Anti-racism: Past, Present and Future.” Dr. Braxton represented the Braxton Institute and served as a respondent to a distinguished panel of experts in a dynamic discussion.

November 19, 2020
“The Lakeland Spirit: Through Digital Footprints,” a virtual program of community heritage and stories about Lakeland--the century-old African American community in College Park, MD. Presented in partnership with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, the University of Maryland’s Department of American Studies and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH).

October 11, 2020
In collaboration with Indigenous Pride LA, Afro-Indigenous Two-Spirit/LGBTQI+ Roundtable with panelists Blue, L. Frank Manriquez, Jennifer Lisa Vest, Shane Ortega, and Vogue Lansing and moderated by Dr. Joanne Braxton.

September 22, 2020
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Moving Through Spiritual Impasse to Counter White Supremacy.” Join Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, counter-oppression theologian and educator, and Richael Faithful, a healer and strategist, in a deep thinking and feeling discussion on moving through your limits toward meaningful action at this critical moment.

June 30, 2020
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Essential Practices from The Perspective of Two Black Women Physicians.” The practice of medicine is inherently stressful. However, for physicians who also belong to historically underrepresented groups in medicine, these inherent stressors can often be magnified. Add on a pandemic, especially one that disproportionately affects the very communities to which these physicians belong, and we may have the perfect storm for a crisis in wellness. Join us for a conversation about physician well-being in the time of COVID19 with Dr. Rehema Kutua, M.D. and Dr. Qadira Huff, M.D, two black women physicians who are endeavoring to serve and to thrive during these difficult times. This webinar is facilitated by Rev. Joanne M. Braxton, Ph.D.

May 20, 2020
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Covid and Incarceration: What We Have Learned”
This webinar offers a variety of informed perspectives on how COVID-19 has affected criminal law and incarceration—and what we can learn from the experience. Featuring panelists Rachel Barkow, Alice Marie Johnson, and Mark Osler, and moderated by Dr. Joanne Braxton.

2019

Braxton Institute Manifesto (2019)— Nigel Hatton and Joanne Braxton with input from other members of the board.

November 23, 2019
Contemplative Practices Half-Day Retreat. In this half-day Contemplative Practices retreat, led by Rev. Abhi Janamanchi and Rev. Joanne Braxton, and facilitated by Sophia Bouwsma, a certified therapeutic music practitioner, we will engage in the practices of sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindful eating, prayer, ritual and silence, and explore other modes of spiritual reflection known to facilitate compassion, well-being and exquisite self-care.

August 25, 2019
Virginia: Remembrance, Healing & Reconciliation, co-sponsored by the Braxton Institute. Regional and national partners will host a multicultural community ceremony to mark the 400th anniversary of the first recorded Africans to arrive in English-occupied North America at Old Point Comfort.
The Braxton Institute hosted Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Healing the Land We Share,” and community ritual with descendants of both enslaved and slaveholding families at St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Point, Virginia to mark the in partnership with Beverly Allen Historic Foundation and participation of leaders from Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project. Dialogue and ritual led by Rebecca Parker and Joanne Braxton.
The purpose of the ceremony, workshop and tour are remembrance, healing and reconciliation. Ringing of the bells, music, butterfly release, history and fellowship. Leadership by Rebecca Parker, Joanne Braxton, and Mary Williard.

August 6, 2019
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Risk and Ritual.” Activists Constance Young and glo merriweather discussed how ritual sustains the transformative practice of risk-taking in liberation movement, connecting the social justice practice of healing one’s society to the practice of healing the body, mind, and soul. Moderated by Richael Faithful, folk healer and activist.

May 29 - May 31, 2019
National Moral Injury Conference, Co-sponsored by the Braxton Institute.
“Transforming Moral Injury Across the Professions” is an experiential track designed for clinicians, war-fighters, chaplains, social workers, emergency workers, community organizers, VOA ministers and others interested in cultivating practical tools Braxton Institute contributed two tracks:
1) “Writing for Resilience” (Joanne Braxton) and
2) “Spiritual Impasse and Moral Injury” (Rebecca Parker).

May 19, 2019
Building on the relationship established through working with our Harvard MDiv/MBE intern, Eric Busse, Dr. Braxton represented the Braxton Institute at the Harvard Medical School Master of Bioethics Capstone Symposium on May 9, 2019 serving as an evaluator of graduating student's final presentations under the name of our organization.

May 7, 2019
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “Incarceration, Spirituality and Justice-Making II: Why Reparations?”
Join Nkechi Taifa and Mark Osler, public intellectuals, attorneys and two of the leading legal voices in the national policy conversations about federal clemency, pardons and commutations in their first-ever public conversation about HR 40, reparations for American slavery and generations of imposed social inequity. Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton.

May 2 - May 16, 2019
“Writing for Healing” led by Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton. The writer’s craft is a tool chest for witnessing and Compassion. Journaling, spiritual life writing, meditation, creating rituals, and other forms of meaning-making that support recovery and resilience.

March 16, 2019
Lemon Symposium Roundtable: “New Perspectives on Restorative Justice and Collective Healing" Joanne M. Braxton, Frances L & Edwin L Cummings Professor Emerita of English & Humanities, William & Mary; CEO and President of the Board of the Braxton Institute; Nkechi Taifa, Esq., President and CEO, The Taifa Group, LLC; Convener, Justice Roundtable; Constance Paige Young, anti-racist activist, crime victim advocate and writer. A collaboration between the Braxton Institute and the W&M Lemon Project (March 16, 2019).

February 5, 2019
Braxton Institute Dialogue on Resisting and Thriving: “I Found God in Myself: We Remember Ntozake Shange.” Seven voices for the 7 colors of the rainbow read from the work of Ntosake Shange and then their own work to share how Shange’s poetry and plays helped them to find God in themselves and to love themselves more fully. Reading, reflection, commentary, ritual atar building/closure.

2018

December 5, 2018
Labyrinth walk with meditative cello followed by All Souls presentation of Rachmaninoff Vespers, with interpretation guidance for spiritual practice by Rebecca Parker.

November 10, 2018
Contemplative Practice Retreat on Diwali led by Joanne Braxton, Abhi Janamanchi, and Maxine Hillman. In this half-day Contemplative Practices retreat we will honor Hindu religious perspectives and devotional practices as well as the power of interfaith spirituality and its expression. Half-day contemplative practices retreat honoring sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindful eating, prayer, ritual and silence. 

October 25 - November 29, 2018
“Writing the Sacred Self” facilitated by Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton. Spiritual life writing is a way of engaging in the transformative journey to one’s own sacred center and bringing together the pieces of one’s authentic self. Writing is healing for those who write; once the skills are learned, reflective writing and journaling become not only a life-long bulwark against stress and burnout, but a means of expressing the soul.

October 21, 2018
“Mapping the Terrain of Moral Suffering.” Presentation at American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (2018). Joanne Braxton, Eric Busse, and Dr. Cynda Rushton, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics. 

August 12, 2018
Braxton Institute holds space in the safe house to provide spiritual grounding for Black Lives Matter leaders in D.C. and supports the multi-faith rally to Resist the Unite the Right movement. Joanne Braxton, Ari Pak, Aya Folk.

June 20, 2018
Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton teaches “Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: The Classic Readings” at All Souls Church Unitarian.

June 7, 2018
Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving: “Black Sacred Activism: Cool Water” with Artisia Green and Joanne Braxton. In this dynamic, participatory dialogue, we explore the way in which theater and ritual offer avenues for spiritual and aesthetic growth and community renewal. We will embody this exploration through the creation of a walking meditation/ritual that will close our evening by honoring our various backgrounds and spiritual practices.

May 5, 2018
Contemplative Practices Retreat facilitated by Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton. In this half-day workshop retreat, we explore both writing and mindfulness as tools for spiritual formation and the cultivation of exquisite self-care. Sitting meditation, prayer, ritual and silence, mindfulness, mindful walking, mindful eating, life writing, and spiritual reflection.

April 5, 2018
Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving: “Visions Through Art, Action & Alchemy” with Nicole Oxendine, J. Valoris, and Richael Faithful. We deeply explore the ways in which creatives are expressing their politics and creating collective healing through the vehicles of art, media, and ritual. We examine the rich history of art activism, resistance, and survival, in communities of color, and how these legacies are shaped in the heightened time of 2018.

February 22, 2018
Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving: “Incarceration, Spirituality, and Justice-Making” with Pastor Tina Booker, Dr. Nigel Hatton, and Chaplain Justin von Bujdoss. Grounded in the pursuit of spiritual thriving and sustainable justice, this dynamic, participatory community dialogue brings together diverse voices with wide-ranging expertise to engage deeply with the realities of incarceration, racism, and the work of collective justice-making.

January 28, 2018
Me Too! - At All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, DC, Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker preached about the "Me, Too" Wake-Up Call, and how the movement has brought renewed attention to how widely sexual harassment and abuse have impacted people's lives---most often (but not only) women. Braxton Institute guides small group discussions in response. Ari Pak and Aya Folk are in leadership.

2017

$2.5 k Eileen Fisher Foundation Community Partners Grant (2017) –Joanne Braxton, Rebecca Parker, Ari Pak

Braxton Institute support for One Earth Sangha/IMCW and All Souls Unitarian for “Untying the White Knot,” a day-long workshop with spiritual grounding for racial justice work led by Rebecca Parker and Kristin Barker. Braxton Institute provides program design review and observation and feedback of the program. Braxton honorarium to the Braxton Institute.

December 31, 2017
Kwanzaa Celebration “Offering First Fruits of the Spirit '' at All Souls Church Unitarian with preaching by Joanne Braxton, liturgy by Rebecca Parker, and music by Jubilee Singers and Akoma Drummers.

December 7, 2017
Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving: “Spiritual Seeds of Land Justice” with Tracy McCurty, Amirio Freeman, and Richael Faithful. In this conversation we’ll deeply explore the inspiration and forces that source our stewardship of land, ecology, food, and communities. We’ll examine how imperialist strategies that were devised to disconnect us from, and harm us through land weren’t successful, and the bodies of existing work that are helping us reconnect, repair, and reclaim our ecological-human relationships.

October 5, 2017
Program Launch- Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving with panelists.
Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving: “Grounding Resistance in Love and Joy” with panelists Joanne Braxton, Richael Faithful, and Rebecca Parker - The Dialogues explore and re-imagine the spiritual resources that have fueled and sustained powerful social change movements—including folk healing, meditation, rituals for empowerment, celebration, and more.

September 11-13, 2017
Moral Injury and Collective Healing: An Advanced Training Seminar- This advanced training seminar marks a groundbreaking moment in the growing discourse about moral injury among veterans of war and citizens returning from incarceration. One hundred experienced clinicians, caregivers, clergy, and thought-leaders will convene with expert faculty for three days of experiential learning which will inform the ways individuals and communities respond to the invisible wounds of moral injury.
Faculty: Joanne Braxton, Rebecca Parker, Nigel Hatton
Admin: Eric Busse
Logistics: Ari Pak, Aya Folk

April 28-30, 2017
Revolutionary Love Conference, Middle Collegiate Church, NYC (2017). Braxton Institute receives Braxton’s $1000 honorarium as a donation from the Unitarian Universalist Association, which sponsored our leadership on this occasion. Joanne Braxton and Rebecca Parker present.

August 14, 2017
Coming Together Festival: Weyanoke Association for Red Black History and Culture. Keynote: “Red-Black Spirit Medicine” (Joanne Braxton)

January - May 2017
“Spiritual Grounding for Dangerous Times,” co-led by Braxton Institute leaders Dr. Rebecca Parker and Dr. Joanne Braxton, with Kristin Barker (One Earth Sangha), Michael Milano, and Janice View at All Souls Unitarian Church, D.C..

2016

Braxton Institute sponsors Harvard University MBE/MDiv Intern Eric Busse, housed in Braxton’s workspace at Office of Scholarly Programs, US Library of Congress (2016).

Busse contributes to development of the Braxton Institute model for Collective Healing from Collective Trauma and planning for the 2017 Princeton Moral Injury conference. Braxton supervises his Harvard Divinity School fieldwork semester and his Harvard Medical MBE capstone project in Moral Injury.  

2014

Representatives of the United Church of Christ (Dr. Joanne Braxton and Dr. John Myers), the Disciples of Christ and the Soul Repair Center (Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock), the William & Mary Canterbury Association (Rev. John Kerr), and the Unitarian Universalist Association (Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker and Rev. Sue Sinnamon) meet under the auspices of the Braxton Institute to initiate a local, regional, and national conversation about the problem of Moral Injury.

September 27, 2014
The Violence That Touches Everyone: Recovering Human Sustainability in a Time of War, Williamsburg, VA Regional Library
Presenters: Rev. Lauren McDonald, Major Scott Daniels, Ms. Jan Brown, Dr. Nigel Hatton, Father John Kerr, Ms. Artisia Green, Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, and Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton

September 27, 2014
The Braxton Institute signs the Articles of Incorporation.

2012

March 27, 2012
Formation: Jerome Carter and Ashley Pettway invite Open and Affirming UCC Campus Minister Joanne M. Braxton to speak on “The Care of the Soul in this World” on the steps of the Sir Christopher Wren building at William & Mary Trayvon Martin vigil. The Braxton Institute is Founded.