Continuing Conversations on Race

Allison Thomas discusses her work reckoning with her family history, connecting with linked descendants and collaborating on reparative actions. This program is virtual and in person.

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Thomas descends from six generations of enslavers. Researching them, she confronted the brutality and violence required to keep men and women in bondage. She also connected with descendants of people her family enslaved, some of whom shared her DNA. Thomas is focused on repairing the harms of slavery and its legacies of structural inequity today by working with Black linked descendants to restore the history of their community, spending down her wealth by the end of the decade and working with Black-led groups on government reparations.

Allison Thomas descends from enslavers in colonial Virginia, including Robert Carter who died the richest man in Virginia enslaving more than 1,000 people over his lifetime, and his grandson Carter Braxton who signed the Declaration of Independence despite being an enslaver himself. She is currently writing about her journey to reckon with her true family history, connect with linked descendants, and collaborate on reparative actions. She has worked with linked descendants to gain approval for a historic highway marker about the Black community on Gwynn's Island in Mathews County in southwestern Virginia.

Thomas served on the founding board of Coming Together Virginia, manages the Linked Descendants Writing Pods and serves on the planning committee of the Linked Descendants group. In the past she co-managed "Coming to the Table's BitterSweet blog and served on the steering committee of Southern California Coming to the table group, as well as the strategic planning committee of CRRR. She currently serves on the board of the American Civil War Museum and volunteers with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Justice Project, a restorative justice initiative of the Los Angeles City Attorney.

Thomas's professional career has spanned government (working for President Jimmy Carter and California Governor Jerry Brown), high tech PR (working for Steve Jobs and NeXT Computer), and producing for film ("Seabiscuit" and the "Tale of Despereaux") and theater ("Dave," a Broadway musical based on the movie).

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