Date: September 21, 2026
As you all know, Virginia Theological Seminary has been doing something no other institution has done: offering direct cash reparations, with no restrictions attached, to descendants of the enslaved and exploited Black laborers who built this place. Bridging Ground, a new documentary by Peabody Award winner Mark Farkas and Emmy winner Roan Ross, tells that story not as a tidy tale of success, but as an account of sin, grace, and the work of repair.
The film follows our Director of Reparations, Ebonee Davis-Hayes, and a community of descendants as they find one another across two centuries of silence. Names once lost are recovered; untold stories are heard. Set to an original score by Elwood Jones, it moves between archival discovery and deep emotion, showing two communities walking together toward a more just future. At a time of sharp division, it is a reminder that repair begins with listening.
Please join us for the premiere of Bridging Ground: A Story of Sin, Grace, and Repair on Wednesday, September 23, in the Lettie Pate Evans Room at VTS. Doors open at 6:00 pm, and the film begins at 7:00 pm. To attend, please click here
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary