06/05/2026
Last week, we gathered to remember Eleanor Bumpurs.
Not simply the brutality of her death, but the fullness of her life.
In conversation with LaShawn Harris and Andre Easton, we were reminded that so often history reduces us to the moments of violence enacted upon us. What we inherit are snapshots. Headlines. Court records. Police reports. Yet behind them are whole lives lived in relationship to neighbors, family, faith, routine, joy, and care.
We talked about Ms. Bumpur's immaculate apartment and what it represented: the sanctity of home. A sacred space she tended with dignity and intention. A place of refuge, self-determination, and humanity. We reflected on what it means when violence enters those spaces and what we lose when a home is no longer treated as sacred.
We talked about Ms. Bumpur's going to the movies before her death.
We talked about "what looks like crazy" and sytems of abuse and neglect that compound and impact us psychologically and emotionally. Then hide their hand.
We talked about what the facts actually show — thanks to the many hours of oral accounts, information requests, news reports, court documents, photography, and years of research, across generations and states, that LaShawn poured into fact-finding and unrelenting academic, intellectual and ethical rigor.
The conversation asked us to consider how we remember and the gift of excavation.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this unforgettable conversation. Thank you to and for sharing your beautiful minds with us.
May we continue to tell the stories that make us more human to one another.
