RCWMS

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, with Kim Gaubault - October 2025
2025-10-15 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
October: What Brings Me Joy/ What Brings Me Comfort
November: Giving Thanks: The Grace for Failing Forward
December: Laying Aside Every Weight: The Art of Shedding
Register for October below.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Cancer Writing Circle- Week 2
2025-10-13 16:00 - 17:30 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Join a weekly gathering of fellow travelers undergoing treatment for cancer to write to prompts provided for timed intervals. No writing experience is necessary. This series is designed to provide a supportive environment to develop a creative practice of reflective writing. While we will talk about the writing and our experience of writing, this is not a writing class or a cancer support group. That said, participants are likely to gain greater clarity regarding their life experiences and our writing is likely to improve with practice.
The structure and format of the series is informed by James Pennebaker’s Write to Heal and Suleika Jaouad’s bestselling book, The Book of Alchemy, both of which affirm the power of writing to heal. There is no requirement to purchase these books to participate. However, reading these authors will provide you with a deeper context for the prompts and may inspire you to dig deeper.
This circle is inspired by Brenda Ulyend’s book, If You Want to Write, which posits everyone is a writer. No one will be required to read or share their work. Volunteers will be invited to share excerpts of their writing every session.
Six Mondays in a row beginning on October 6, 2025.
Facilitators: Chris McLeod is a writer living with metastatic breast cancer who is eager to create a community of cancer patients interested in developing a writing practice. RCWMS trustee Liddy Grantland is a writer, published author, and a social work student living with metastatic breast cancer.

Cancer Writing Circle
2025-10-06 16:00 - 17:30 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States

HOMEGROWN: NC Women's Preaching Festival 2025
2025-10-02 14:30 - 2025-10-03 15:00 | Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, 927 W Trinity Ave, Durham, NC, West Trinity Avenue, Durham, North Carolina, 27701, United States
Join us for this year’s NC Women’s Preaching Festival, where our theme, “Digging Deep and Rising Up,” reflects on the wisdom of Esther (Esther 4:14-16) and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:39).
We believe hundreds of Christian clergywomen in North Carolina are faithfully and creatively engaging in ministries where they proclaim the Word of God, week after week. In an ecumenical spirit of love and collegiality, we will lift up the voices of local clergywomen (trans/cis) to encourage and inspire; share and learn; and hone our craft. Together, we will hear wonderful preaching from conference attendees and have time for group conversations on the art of proclamation in all its forms. We will pray, worship, and celebrate together.
Location: Trinity Ave. Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC
Cost: $25-$125 (Price doesn’t include lodging)
Lodging: Recommended Hotels in the area include: 21c Museum Hotel Durham, Aloft Durham Downtown, SpringHill Suites by Marriott – Durham City View, Residence Inn by Marriott – Durham McPherson/Duke Medical, and The King’s Daughters Inn. (Airbnb suggestion: 807 West Trinity Ave. Pearl Mill Flats)
For full details about the festival, please visit ncwomenpreaching.com. Contact us directly at info@rcwms.org with any questions.

CANCELED: Becoming the Second Person with Shawna Ayoub
2025-09-21 14:00 - 16:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Do you have a painful and true story you find yourself reliving each time you try to tell it? What about a story that’s stuck inside you because it feels too raw to be writeable, too vulnerable to be readable? Is being able to tell that story without suffering the key to releasing yourself from the trauma of the narrative?
What if you found out there is a way to create safe distance while still telling that hard story? To minimize trauma and (re)gain control of your narrative by no longer being your story’s first person?
What if you could be your story’s second person?
Writers will practice using narrative distance as a tool to explore their stories in new ways. Writers will also take home a packet of writing examples as well as prompts, and can contact Shawna for written feedback within two weeks of this workshop.
Leader: Shawna Ayoub is a brown, queer, Durham-based writer and instructor whose work prioritizes the engagement of difficult topics. After recognizing the personal benefits of writing for release and recovery, she has made her practice public for the last 15 years, offering courses independently as well as through the Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Verywell Mind, Survivor Lit, Exit 7, [wherever], The Archipelago, and The Manifest-Station.
Cost: $75, $100. Scholarships available. OR 5 workshops for $325, or 3 workshops of their choice for $200. Please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, September 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-09-17 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
September: Black Don’t Crack, but What Had Happened Was…
Register here: September HERE.
Past sessions: July HERE. August HERE.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Becoming Trustworthy White Allies-Melanie Morrison's Book Launch (Sponsored by RCWMS)
2025-09-11 19:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
RCWMS is honored to invite you to a reading with Melanie Morrison from her new book, Becoming Trustworthy White Allies. The reading is sponsored by RCWMS and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library.
In this collection of essays, lectures, and real-life stories, antiracism facilitator Melanie S. Morrison outlines the actions white people must undertake to become trustworthy partners in the work of racial justice.
Melanie is an author, speaker, and racial justice educator with thirty years of experience designing and facilitating transformational group processes. She is the author of five books, including Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Jim Crow Birmingham. Author’s website: melaniemorrison.net.
Pre-order the book: HERE.
Please REGISTER for the reading by selecting a free ticket below. Registrants will receive both a receipt and a separate email with a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation. Please check your spam and/or promotions folder if you don’t receive one or both of these emails. We will also be sending Zoom link reminders just before the event.

CANCELED: Healing Through Art with Krystle Marriott (via Zoom)
2025-08-29 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Join RCWMS and artist Krystle Marriott for a workshop that combines meditation, reflection, group discussion, and, of course, art. In this workshop, Krystle will lead participants through a meditative, creative workshop in which they are invited to rediscover the wonder of seeing through a child’s eyes in artistic expression. By following Krystle’s guided workshop, participants will be able to connect with others as well as reconnect with their childhood wonder. Please plan to attend this virtual workshop with your own paint supplies ready.
Leader: Krystle Marriott is a local, Hamilton-based artist who has been developing works on the theme of childlike faith for several years. She aims to produce work that will remind the viewer of the importance of cultivating a childlike posture. Krystle captures the magnificent joy of the hearts of children in her work and depicts them in images of humility, happiness, acceptance, boldness, and love. These are the attributes that inform the attitude of childlike faith.
Cost:$38. Scholarships available. For more information, please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

Three Quilters: A Panel Discussion
2025-08-21 19:00 - 21:30 | NC
We’re excited to offer a special panel discussion featuring Sauda Zahra, Jereann King Johnson, and Kimberley Pierce Cartwright. This conversation is part of the programming for our Stitching Our Stories quilt exhibition, and will be moderated by our very own Chloé Griffin Wright. Join us as we discover how these artists transform their personal stories, hardships, and imaginations into powerful works of art. Read more about our artists: Kimberley Pierce Cartwright, Jereann King Johnson, and Sauda Zahra. More about the exhibition: Visit the Cassilhaus website.
Cost: FREE, registration is required.
All transport to Cassilhaus will be by shuttle bus from a location TBA. Details will be in your RSVP confirmation. Visitors with physical challenges can request on-site parking in their RSVP:
Register to attend in-person by emailing RCWMS@cassilhaus.com
Register to attend virtually (Zoom) by emailing VIRTUALRCWMS@cassilhaus.com
Cost: FREE, registration is required.
*Please note the virtual presentation will begin promptly at 7:30 PM. A Zoom link will be shared once registration is complete. This is a live cats venue.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, August 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-08-20 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
August: Am I My Sister’s Keeper: Unraveling the Thread
September: Black Don’t Crack, but What Had Happened Was…
Register: August HERE. September HERE.
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

What Needs Attention Now? The Integrated Approach to Health with Solita Denard (via Zoom)
2025-07-29 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
What do you need to take the next step to improve your personal health? Join us for an integrated approach to wellness! This 4-part series is designed for individuals ready to learn in a supportive community and commit to moving toward their personal vision of health and wellbeing. Guided by Solita Denard, participants will develop a personalized wellness plan through curated group discussions.
If you desire to make a positive change in one or more areas of personal health in 2025, this series is for you. The program includes four group sessions and up to four private, one-on-one coaching sessions tailored to each participant.
January 29: This Time Next Year: Vision, Values and Goals.
What do we want? Why do we want it?
April 29: Making Progress: Challenges, Insights and New Habits.
Reflecting on the important information being offered by our specific practices toward
better health. What are we learning?
July 29: What Needs Attention Now? The Integrated Approach to Health.
Checking in with ourselves and the importance of leverage.
October 29: Sustaining Our Behavior Changes: A Plan and Strategies for Support.
Standing on our strengths for forward movement.
Leader: Solita Denard, Health Integration 629, LLC partners with clients as they create a vision and then take action to improve personal health through the Behavior Change process. Integrative Health Coaching supports clients in assessing 9 different areas of Health and Wellbeing. Solita will assist participants in creating a personal plan toward positive health changes with increased self-awareness. Each day Solita is reminded that supporting clients in the process of Behavior Change is sacred work.

Cost: $229 for full series, including up to four private one-on-one coaching series per participant. Space is limited. For additional information, please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Writing the Body with Shawna Ayoub
2025-07-27 14:00 - 16:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
It’s a well-researched fact that we store our emotional experiences in our physical bodies. On anniversaries of loss, for example, it is common to feel body pain, heaviness, or fatigue. In this workshop, we will practice feeling into our body stories safely in order to capture them in words. As a group, we will learn about how the body stores memory, and why, and take home practices for listening to the stories our bodies want to tell us.
Writers will take home a packet of writing examples as well as prompts, and can contact Shawna for written feedback within two weeks of this workshop.
Leader: Shawna Ayoub is a brown, queer, Durham-based writer and instructor whose work prioritizes the engagement of difficult topics. After recognizing the personal benefits of writing for release and recovery, she has made her practice public for the last 15 years, offering courses independently as well as through the Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Verywell Mind, Survivor Lit, Exit 7, [wherever], The Archipelago, and The Manifest-Station.
Cost: $75, $100. Scholarships available. OR 5 workshops for $325, or 3 workshops of their choice for $200. Please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, July 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-07-16 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
July: We’ve Come this Far by Faith: No Turning Back
August: Am I My Sister’s Keeper: Unraveling the Thread
September: Black Don’t Crack, but What Had Happened Was…
Register: July HERE. August HERE. September HERE
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.

Kindred Spirits – Space and Time: Quilting Afrofuturism, Pop-up Quilt Show
2025-06-20 18:00 - 21:00 | Durham Convention Center, West Morgan Street 301, Durham, North Carolina, 27701, United States
As part of Kindred Spirits: A Convergence of African American Quilters conference, we are having a quilt show on June 21, 6:00-9:00 pm, during Durham’s Third Friday celebration of Juneteenth.
Join us for the Juneteenth weekend opening for Space and Time Quilting: Afrofuturism, a pop-up show! This event marks an opportunity to explore Afrofuturism, a powerful lens for reimagining futures where African heritage and visionary dreaming shape new possibilities.

Full details about the conference and the show can be found at https://rcwms.org/kindred-spirits-quilting-conference/
Location: Durham Convention Center
Cost: Free. All are welcome.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, June 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-06-18 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
June 2025: Dealing with Shrinkage: Imposter Syndrome, Hair Journeys and Taking Up Space in this Skin
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Register below! Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Stitching Our Stories Exhibition (Opening Celebration)
2025-05-29 18:00 - 21:30 | NC
Cassilhaus and the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South (RCWMS) are pleased to announce the opening of STITCHING OUR STORIES: Community, Imagination, and Spirit.
This exhibition will open on Thursday May 29th and feature works by three North Carolina artists: Kimberley Pierce Cartwright, Jereann King Johnson and Sauda Zahra. All three of these self-taught fiber artists have been creating thought-provoking work for decades. Their abstract, improvisational, as well as representational quilts will be featured in the exhibition and will explore and inspire community, imagination, and spirit by stitching together their inner thoughts and experiences.
Their work is rooted in the tradition of African American quilting as a medium for storytelling, resistance, and cultural preservation. The exhibition challenges participants to reimagine the role of quilting beyond its historical context into a future where textiles become tools for warmth, inspiration, imagination, transformation, and ancestral connection.
The fabrics in these quilts, much of which is recycled, transform stories, hardships, and imaginations into inspiration for the future. The representational works elucidate and confront enslavement, lynching, civil rights, social justice, and showcase prominent figures such Fannie Lou Hammer, Zora Neal Hurston, and Bree Newsome.
Stitching Our Stories will be on view through August 31 during various events to be announced here on this page. For more information contact frank@cassilhaus.com. People interested in receiving invitations to all Cassilhaus public events can sign up on the connect page on our site and those interested in news and events at RCWMS can sign up at their contact page.
Opening Celebration Information:
All three artists will be in attendance.
Attendance is by RSVP only and space is limited.
All transport to Cassilhaus will be by shuttle bus from a location TBA.
Details will be in your RSVP confirmation.
Visitors with physical challenges can request on site parking in their RSVP email.
Session 1 6:00-7:45 pm RSVP: StitchingOurStories1@cassilhaus.com
Session 2 7:45-9:30 pm RSVP: StitchingOurStories2@cassilhaus.com
Graphics courtesy of Dean Burnette at OLED Studio

Remaking a Memory with Shawna Ayoub
2025-05-25 14:00 - 16:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Traumatic memories are formed differently than normal memories, and can be more intense and longer lasting. In addition, we can inform our own traumatic memories by rehearsing them. This looks like retelling the event to others, to ourselves, or writing it down. When we do this, we are at risk of introducing inaccuracies and potentially doing ourselves greater harm. However, when we write our traumatic memories, we are also presented with a powerful opportunity: to reframe them.
Reframing our difficult memories allows us to remake them in a way that serves us. In this two-hour Zoom session, we will learn how memories can be intentionally offered through multiple reframing techniques including altered point of view and writing the story as it otherwise might have happened.
Writers will take home a packet of writing examples as well as prompts, and can contact Shawna for written feedback within two weeks of this workshop.
Leader: Shawna Ayoub is a brown, queer, Durham-based writer and instructor whose work prioritizes the engagement of difficult topics. After recognizing the personal benefits of writing for release and recovery, she has made her practice public for the last 15 years, offering courses independently as well as through the Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Verywell Mind, Survivor Lit, Exit 7, [wherever], The Archipelago, and The Manifest-Station.
Cost: $75, $100. Scholarships available. OR 5 workshops for $325, or 3 workshops of their choice for $200. Please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, May 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-05-21 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
May 2025: I Feel it in My Bones: We Know What We Know
June 2025: Dealing with Shrinkage: Imposter Syndrome, Hair Journeys and Taking Up Space in this Skin
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Register for May: HERE. June: HERE
Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Making Progress: Challenges, Insights and New Habits with Solita Denard (via Zoom)
2025-04-29 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States

Stagville Historic Site Tour: Understanding the Lives and Work of Enslaved People
2025-04-25 13:00 - 15:00 | 5828 Old Oxford Highway Durham, N.C. 27712
Join us for a tour of Historic Stagville, a state historic site in northern Durham County that includes remnants of one of the largest plantations in North Carolina. The Bennehan-Cameron family owned approximately 30,000 acres of land and enslaved about 900 people on this property. Stagville protects a fraction of the land from that plantation, including original housing for enslaved people (1851), a massive barn (1860), and a Bennehan family house (1787-1799). Stagville is dedicated to teaching about the lives and work of enslaved people on the plantation.
Don’t miss this opportunity to join Stagville staff, RCWMS folk, and other community members in learning more about Historic Stagville. The tour will begin at 1:00. Please allow sufficient time for the drive there.
Cost: $10/person. Proceeds to support Historic Stagville. Additional donations to Stagville are welcome!
Register below.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, April 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
April 2025: Promises, Promises: Committed to Our Progress
May 2025: I Feel it in My Bones: We Know What We Know
June 2025: Dealing with Shrinkage: Imposter Syndrome, Hair Journeys and Taking Up Space in this Skin
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Register for April: HERE. May: HERE. June: HERE
Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Ancestral Wisdom: For the Struggle for Liberation-Lecture Series at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church
2025-04-04 19:00 - 2025-04-05 13:30 | Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC, 27605, United States
This year’s lecture series, Ancestral Wisdom: For the Struggle for Liberation, features Dr. Sarah Azaransky, Associate Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Over the two days, she will lecture on the themes of her most recent book, This Worldwide Struggle. Read more about Dr. Azaransky HERE.
Schedule of Events
Day 1: Friday, April 4 — 7-9 pm in Finlator Hall (Book Talk and Reception)
Dr. Sarah Azaransky will discuss her latest book, This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement. It identifies a network of Black Christian intellectuals and activists who looked abroad (including in other religious traditions) for ideas and practices that could transform American democracy. From the 1930s to the 1950s, they drew lessons from independence movements around the world for an American racial justice campaign. The book reveals fertile intersections of worldwide resistance movements, American racial politics, and interreligious exchanges that crossed literal borders and disciplinary boundaries.
A complimentary reception will follow.
Day 2: Saturday. April 5 — 10 am-1:30 pm in Finlator Hall
Dr. Azaransky will offer some reflections. An interfaith panel will follow featuring Latifat Odetunde, Hima Thaker, Bianca Richardson, and Caleb Panton. The discussion will center on how our movements for justice today might draw from the spiritual wisdom of the ancestors in Dr. Azaransky’s work — including Bayard Rustin, Pauli Murray, Howard Thurman, and Martin Luther King Jr.
This event is co-sponsored by RCWMS & Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice.
Cost: $5 (donation), $10 (includes lunch), $15 (sponsor a lunch).
Register for Saturday : HERE
Learn more: HERE
Contact: news@pullen.org

Surviving Your Story: Expressing Writing for Release and Recovery
2025-03-23 14:00 - 16:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States
Difficult experiences can become lodged in our bodies in ways that impact us daily, and writing is a way to name, release and recover from those experiences. Expressive writing allows us to make sense and meaning; to re-craft the struggle and better reflect our truth. In other words, it supports you in surviving your story.
This course is structured in two parts. In the first, we come together as a group for a two-hour Zoom session to discuss the what and how of safe expressive writing practices, followed by exercises and a take-home writing assignment. For the second part, you have the option of submitting your writing to the instructor for private, written feedback. Please note that these workshops are intentionally carved out for those who identify as women, femme, and/or nonbinary to experience camaraderie as we navigate difficult, challenging, and deeply personal topics.
Writers will also take home a packet of writing examples and prompts to help them continue their practice.
Leader: Shawna Ayoub is a brown, queer, Durham-based writer and instructor whose work prioritizes the engagement of difficult topics. After recognizing the personal benefits of writing for release and recovery, she has made her practice public for the last 15 years, offering courses independently as well as through the Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Verywell Mind, Survivor Lit, Exit 7, [wherever], The Archipelago, and The Manifest-Station.
Cost: $75, $100. Scholarships available. OR 5 workshops for $325, or 3 workshops of their choice for $200. Please contact info@rcwms.org.
Register below. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
*Community members who would like to donate scholarships may do so at rcwms.org/donate.

BLUESTEM WALKING TOUR, Bluestem Conservation Cemetery
2025-03-21 12:30 - 14:00 | 1900 Hurdle Mills Road Cedar Grove, NC 27231
Come learn about Bluestem, a beautiful piece of land north of Hillsborough, NC, now being developed as a nature preserve and a conservation burial ground.

Why conservation burial, and why Bluestem in particular? Cemeteries are places for people to be permanently memorialized and places at which family and loved ones may gather for reflection. Conservation burial grounds serve as places where individual and community commitment to conservation and perpetuity come together. Bluestem will be a conservation cemetery designed as a nature preserve and place of reverence, with a trail network, quiet areas for reflection, open space for contemplation, and designated areas within its restored landscape for natural burial.
Join us at Bluestem Conservation Cemetery a place of reverence for all to connect with the sacred in nature. Drop in to get to know this place, find more information about conservation burial and Bluestem’s natural sanctuaries, and let us know more about how Bluestem can serve you and your spiritual community! Local clergy, faith leaders, spiritual guides, laypeople, and just curious folks welcome!
Learn more about Bluestem: HERE
Cost:$10.00. Proceeds will support Bluestem.
Spaces are limited. Register below.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, March 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-03-19 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
March 2025– HerStory: Writing My Next Chapter
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, February 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-02-19 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
February 2025– We Got Us: Black Women Saving Ourselves
March 2025– HerStory: Writing My Next Chapter
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Register for February: HERE. March: HERE.
Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.

Nightscapes: A Conversation on Nocturnal Images with MJ Sharp (via Zoom)
2025-02-06 18:00 - 20:00 | NC
Join us on Thursday February 6th, from 6-8pm. RCWMS Artist in Residence MJ Sharp will give an online artist talk reflecting on her twenty years of photographing at night.
The talk is in conjunction with her upcoming Nightscapes show on view at Craven Allen Gallery in Durham from February 8th — March 1st, with an opening reception on Saturday night, February 8th from 5-7pm. MJ is delighted to welcome several colleagues as commentators during the online talk. Each leader for the discussion were invaluable advisors and collaborators as the original nocturnal images of prehistoric sites in the UK (during her Fulbright Scholar year) became the Disappearing Darkness projections that were first workshopped at the Fruit in Durham during the 2023 Click!Photography Festival. The images were later installed at the College of Wooster Art Museum in Ohio during the fall semester of 2024.
The Nightscapes show is presenting them in printed form for the first time, along with other new work from the past several years.
Leaders: Dr. Elizabeth Howie (Professor of Art History, Coastal Carolina University), Dr. Ellen C. Raimond (Associate Curator of Academic Initiatives at the Nasher Museum), Dr. Marianne Wardle (Director and Curator of the College of Wooster Art Museum), and Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (Executive Director, Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, University of Pennsylvania).

This Time Next Year: Vision, Values and Goals with Solita Denard (via Zoom)
2025-01-29 18:30 - 20:00 | via Zoom, Durham, NC, United States

Writing into the Light with Carol Henderson
2025-01-27 11:00 - 12:15 | Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, 927 W Trinity Ave, Durham, NC, West Trinity Avenue, Durham, North Carolina, 27701, United States
This event has been canceled. For additional information, please contact info@rcwms.org.

Ministry of Black Women’s Self Care, January, 2025 – with Kim Gaubault (via Zoom)
2025-01-15 19:00 - 20:30 | NC
Kim Gaubault recognizes that self-care is often the component that remains a form of intervention (after the break or the medical emergency) rather than a preventative measure. When we allow our bodies, minds and/or spirits to break down in the course of doing this work, we are not only putting ourselves at risk but we are putting at risk the integrity of the work for which we are laboring. This work is a work of self-love, communal love, Womanist Ethicism, it is multi-generational, multicultural and is not finite, but is instead as infinite as the beauty in the divinity that is Blackness. Come and share in this life’s work! This program is specifically designed to offer practical tools for everyday self-care to Black women-identified individuals doing all forms of ministry, in church and community.
January 2025– 2025 (Twenty Twenty Thrive): The First Day of the Rest of My Life
February 2025– We Got Us: Black Women Saving Ourselves
March 2025– HerStory: Writing My Next Chapter
Leader: Kimberly Gaubault (McCrae) is an intentional lover of humanity and actively lives the self-care life about which she teaches and advocates. Her personal philosophy of interpersonal interaction is, “If I’ve not positively influenced someone everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve not walked in my purpose.”
Cost: $10, $25, or $40 per session. Choose the price that fits your budget.
Register for January HERE. February HERE. March HERE.
Registrants will receive a Zoom link in the automated ticket confirmation.
