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In February 2013, De Kirkpatrick and Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick, classmates at Myers Park High School, reconnected nearly 50 years after their graduation. In their catch-up phone call, Jimmie Lee asked De what the H in his initials H.D. stood for. De said Hugh. That’s when both men learned that De’s great-great-grandfather, also named Hugh, owned Jimmie Lee’s great-great-great-grandfather, a slave named Sam. Together, they began examining their families and the county where they grew up, Mecklenburg, where 1 in 3 people were slaves in 1860. Since that initial call they have together researched their joint heritage.  Additionally, as a black man and white man in the South they have engaged in a rare and personally intimate conversation on topics that most of us avoid: inequity, race and slavery. On January 15 - both Kirkpatricks will be at United Church to speak at the Adult Forum at 10 am and the Senior High Youth Group at 11 am.      

Middle School youth will meet with people from United Church and the Interfaith Community House.  They will serve lunch at Community House.