Sitting next to a picture on the wall at her office, LaTrell Clifford Wood accidentally discovered a significant piece of her family’s history.
The picture had a name on it: Chief Justice McClellan, who presided over the Supreme Court of Alabama when the 1901 Constitution was written. LaTrell shares, “That was the constitution that made a lot of broad statements about the forced illiteracy and alleged moral depravity of many Black people as ‘justification’ for them not being permitted to vote. It was McClellan’s family who owned my great-great-grandfather’s mother. These weren’t stories that I knew growing up.”
But now she does.
LaTrell was an honors history major and the valedictorian of the Class of 2020 at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa. Stillman is one of three Presbyterian-related Schools and Colleges Equipping Communities of Color of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
She started out as a business and fine arts major but was drawn to history and its practical application as an aspiring scholar, leader and social justice advocate. Her many achievements at Stillman include co-founding the college’s Sustainable Healthy Food Initiative Task Force and serving as task force chair as well as project lead for the Community Garden Project.
Not long after graduating, she found her way to Washington, D.C., with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, where she served Alabama’s 7th Congressional District as a congressional intern. Then, in 2023, LaTrell accepted a position as a hunger policy advocate for Alabama Arise, a statewide, member-led organization advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty, truly carrying “The Stillman Way” of the pursuit of intellectual excellence, the development of personal honor and a commitment to the common good into the world.
She was taught that education is how you are able to take care of yourself. But her ideologies have matured with the understanding that caring for yourself and others — by promoting workers’ rights, equity and workplace wellness — can help change the world.
Providing such promising students as LaTrell with the support and resources they need to thrive is what the PC(USA)’s Christmas Joy Offering is all about. The annual offering distributes gifts equally to Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color and to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions.
“I see the Christmas Joy Offering as a way to support restorative justice,” said LaTrell.
Gifts to the Offering prepare the way for the future leaders like LaTrell. Please give what you can, for when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot!
Let us pray ~
O God, we give you thanks for all those who teach and lead. May your Holy Spirit move all of us closer to the justice and peace only you provide as we humbly work with you to enliven a world in the way of your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Gifts to the Christmas Joy Special Offering of the PCUSA will be received throughout December. By giving to the Christmas Joy Offering, you will be providing assistance to current and retired church workers in their time of need and developing our future leaders at Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges. Please consider giving to the Christmas Joy Offering in addition to your regular giving. Give online or by check — mark gifts “JOY”.