History of the DDT

The Dallas Dinner Table was formed in 1999 through the efforts of the Leadership Dallas Alumni Board seeking to find a way to improve communication in the Dallas community.

The catalyst for the board's focus on race relations included recent racial tensions within the school board (including Black Panther demonstrations at recent school board meetings), and were heightened by the tragedy of the James Byrd, Jr. dragging death in Jasper, Texas in July 1998. And as leaders they realized very few conversations about the impact of race and ethnicity were held in multi-racial or multi-ethnic settings. As a result there was great misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

The concept of a dialogue over dinner - "breaking bread" together - was agreed upon in January 1999 as a way to impact race relations on three levels: 1) among Leadership Dallas Alumni Association (LDAA) board members 2) within Leadership Dallas as a whole, and 3) throughout the broader Dallas community. LDAA board hired consultants to facilitate Board discussion, design the Dallas Dinner Table process, develop the facilitation materials required and assist with the initial event.

A kick-off luncheon was held in fall 1999 to educate leaders about the program and to identify both sponsors and volunteers. The first Dallas Dinner Table event was held in October 1999.

In 2000 and 2001 four Dinner Table events were held, including a special event that focused on interfaith discussion in November 2001 (after the tragedy of 9/11). Participation ranged from 200-350 at these events.

Beginning in 2003 the Dallas Dinner Table event was linked to the Martin Luther King, Jr holiday. This provided an anchor date that people could plan around and participation increased significantly. And, in 2004 Dallas Dinner Table became an independent non-profit organization.

Since then the Dallas Dinner table has grown in scope and attendance, fulfilling the vision of the Leadership Dallas Board when they wrote,

Our hope is that these small dinner forums will start a series of interactive conversations about the race related topics and issues that are important to us all, both as citizens of Dallas and as citizens of an increasingly global society. Further, we hope that this first Dallas Dinner Table series will start a "ripple" or "cascade" effect, so that attendees at the initial dinners may then host future series of DDT forums, and that the program may establish a model for this type of initiative in other cities, as well”.

In 2007 to accommodate growing interest and to expand the Dallas Dinner Table concept beyond the DFW Metroplex, we introduced a new Host model, where community organizations, churches, corporations and generous home hosts, sponsor multiple tables creating pools of participants. This change in concept allows participants to register on line and choose their dining location at the time of registration. (In previous years the dining locations were assigned the week prior to the event.) In spite of challenging weather, we had over 1200 people using the new model.

Beginning in 2008, the date of the Dallas Dinner Table has been moved to the nearest non-holiday weeknight to the annual United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21). This change was driven by two factors: 1) The desire to find an international commemorative date that would speak to all races and cultures. 2) To avoid the limitations of the unpredictable January weather in Dallas, TX; where ice storms have frequently limited the attendance in recent years.

To honor our past tradition, registration will begin every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. It is still our vision to have “One million people around the county dining together and discussing important racial issues in their community at the same time, beginning with Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday registration and ending with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Can you think of a better way for people of all racial backgrounds to honor Dr. Kingâ€™s life and vision of a better world?