Lucretia Carter Berry, PhD • July 14, 2026
“If we don’t keep them in the dark, our children will light up the world.”
I say those words often.
Not because they sound hopeful, but because I have watched them become true.
This summer, I watched children ask courageous questions. I watched them discover language for who they are. I watched them celebrate one another’s stories with a kind of curiosity that adults often have to relearn.
And I watched an entire community make that possible.
That is why I have exciting news to share.
Brownicity was selected to participate in Healthy Meck’s Shared Gifting Circle, a pilot supported by The Duke Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas initiative. Unlike traditional grantmaking, Shared Gifting invites community organizations to make funding decisions together. It is built on trust instead of competition, relationships instead of transactions, and the belief that communities are best equipped to recognize what their children need.
We are deeply honored to be part of that circle.
This investment was awarded to support Hues of You Summer Camp, and I can’t imagine a more meaningful affirmation of what we’ve believed all along: helping children develop healthy racial identities and meaningful cultural understanding is not simply educational work….It is health work.
Children are absorbing messages about race and culture every single day. They notice who is included, who is excluded, whose stories are celebrated, and whose are overlooked. When they encounter bias or misinformation without the language or support to make sense of it, that confusion doesn’t simply disappear. It settles into how they understand themselves, one another, and the world around them.
But something remarkable happens when children are given a different experience.
They receive language instead of silence.
Curiosity instead of fear.
Connection instead of division.
They begin to see themselves—and one another—with greater clarity, compassion, and confidence.
That is exactly what Hues of You Summer Camp was created to do.
This Was the Week
Every summer, Hues of You Summer Camp invites children into some of life’s biggest questions.
Who am I?
How does my story connect with yours?
What kind of world can we create together?
This year, because of the Shared Gifting Circle, those questions unfolded in even richer ways.
On Monday, campers began with themselves. They explored the stories behind their names, why pronunciation communicates dignity. Then they learned the beautiful science of melanin. They discovered that every human hue is, quite literally, a shade of brown.
On Tuesday, artist Tiffany Trudewind helped campers mix primary colors until they created their own unique hue of brown. They painted self-portraits, traced their ancestors using an Indigenous Skin Tone Map, and discovered that our stories stretch farther—and connect more deeply—than many of us realize.
On Wednesday, children arrived carrying meaningful objects from home to ‘Culture Show & Share’ — a hair bonnet, candy from England, a hat from Costa Rica, a lì xì from Lunar New Year, a traditional Vietnamese dress.
One by one, they stood before their peers and shared pieces of their stories.
With Michelle McKown-Campbell of Activate the Awesome, they created affirmation trees rooted in a simple but profound truth:
“We all have a tapestry of AWESOME! When we activate our AWESOME, we know that we BELONG, just as we are!”
Thursday invited campers to think beyond themselves.
Not simply about equality.
Not simply about equity.
But about justice.
Graphic novelist Stephanie Stalvey taught children how to tell justice stories through comics, imagining the kind of world they hope to help create. At the end of the day, families filled the room to celebrate everything their children had learned and made throughout the week.
Then came Friday.
The Gift We Didn’t Expect
One of the unexpected gifts of the Shared Gifting Circle wasn’t just funding.
It was relationship.
Through the circle, we met Austin-Kidd Farm in Huntersville. By the end of the week, our campers were milking goats, gathering eggs, calling cows, laughing through a summer rainstorm, and discovering joy in a place they may never have experienced otherwise.
Later that day, they walked the campus of Davidson College to experience With These Hands, Hank Willis Thomas’s powerful memorial honoring the enslaved and exploited.
A working farm.
A public monument.
Curiosity.
History.
Joy.
Reflection.
It wasn’t just a field trip.
It was an extension of everything the week had already become.
That is the beauty of community.
One relationship creates another opportunity.
One investment opens another door.
One circle expands until children are standing in places none of us could have imagined at the beginning of the week.
This Is Why We Do It
Perhaps my favorite part of camp isn’t what the children learn.
It’s what they become. They become more curious. More confident. More compassionate.
More equipped to understand themselves and one another.
That transformation followed them home.
“Our 12 year old son loved Hues of You Summer Camp. We knew how much he enjoyed it because, for the first time ever, he was getting himself up, dressed, and ready each morning without any prompting from us. He talked about the activities, the people he met, and the chance to take on a leadership role. What I didn’t expect was how much the history sessions would stay with him. He came home asking questions and making connections to his grandparents’ experiences, which led to some really meaningful conversations at home. As a parent, it was wonderful to see him enjoying himself, growing in confidence, and wanting to go back each day. We’re so glad he had the opportunity to be part of Hues of You.”
Another parent shared:
“My daughter couldn’t wait to get to camp every morning and is already asking if she can do it again next summer. She was proud to share what she learned about empathy and justice and about the different cultures of other campers.”
Those words remind me why this work matters.
Every dollar entrusted to Brownicity through Healthy Meck’s Shared Gifting Circle found its way into the life of a child.
Into conversations around family dinner tables.
Into friendships.
Into imagination.
Into hope.
A Circle Worth Growing
I often say that if we don’t keep children in the dark, they will light up the world.
This summer, I saw another truth.
When a community chooses to invest in children, children don’t become the only ones transformed.
The community does, too.
Hues of You Summer Camp is never the work of one organization alone. It is the beautiful result of a community choosing to invest in children—sharing resources, opening doors, offering space, and believing that the next generation is worth our very best.
We are deeply grateful to Healthy Meck and The Duke Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas initiative for their investment through the Shared Gifting Circle. Your trust made it possible for more children and families to experience the joy, curiosity, and connection that define Hues of You Summer Camp.
We are also incredibly thankful for the partners who helped bring this week to life: Davidson Parks & Recreation, Davidson Housing Coalition, Unity in Community, and Community School of Davidson. Thank you for believing in this vision and for helping create spaces where children can learn, wonder, grow, and belong.
Together, you remind us that meaningful change doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when communities choose to share their gifts with one another.
Because when we invest in children, we are investing in the future we hope to see.
And I still believe, with my whole heart:
If we don’t keep them in the dark, our children will light up the world.
Lucretia Carter Berry, PhD, is a distinguished author, educator, and speaker, as well as the visionary founder of Brownicity, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering education designed to inspire a culture of true belonging and justice for all. Lucretia was also a valued contributor to incourage.me, where she shared her insights and wisdom on topics of faith, resilience, and personal growth. Through her books, Teaching for Justice and Belonging – A Journey for Educators and Parents (2022), Hues of You – An Activity Book for Learning About the Skin You Are In (2022), and What LIES Between Us – Fostering First Steps Toward Racial Healing (2016), her impactful TED Talk, and her commitment to building just communities, Lucretia encourages meaningful engagement that transcends boundaries, fostering personal development, resilience, and the transformative capacity within each of us.
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