Events

September 20, 2022
PPE Speaker Series: Professor Margaret Burnham
Join Northeastern University’s Politics, Philosophy, and Economics program for a lecture and Q&A event with Professor Margaret Burnham, director of Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and faculty co-director of its Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR).

October 7, 2022
By Hands Now Known: The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Archive
Join CRRJ for an all-day hybrid conference celebrating the launch of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Burnes-Nobles Archive and Professor Margaret Burnham’s new book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners.

October 17, 2022 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Fifth Annual David B. Schulman Distinguished Lecture Series
A Look at Florida's “Stop WOKE Act": History, Race and Literacy, Featuring Dr. Katheryn Russell-Brown
Dr. Russell-Brown is the Mabie & Levin Professor of Law and Director of the Race and Crime Center for Justice at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law. Dr.  Russell-Brown teaches, researches and writes on issues of race and crime and the sociology of law.
Virtual attendees can view the livestream here: https://packnetwork.com/schulman

This event is co-sponsored by The Schulman Fund, the Center on Crime, Race and Justice, the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University School of Law and the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

November 14, 2022
Reckoning with Historical Injustice: Journalists at the Frontlines
This spirited conversation with Jerry Mitchell, an investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, MacArthur Fellow and founder of the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, was co-hosted by the School of Journalism at Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media and Design and FRONTLINE, which produced “Un(re)solved,” an investigative series featuring CRRJ’s work.

November 30, 2022
Reparations: The Constitutional Law Landscape
This first panel in a series of three focused on the legal frameworks surrounding reparations policies, including the constitutionality of various reparations proposals and how policymakers might anticipate and structure reparations initiatives with Equal Protection challenges in mind. CRRJ is co-hosting this series with the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University.

February 2, 2023
Saying Tyre Nichols’ Name
A discussion and reflections on the continuing issue of police violence in Black communities.

March 11, 2023
Restorative Justice
Professor Deborah Ramirez, chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force and faculty co-director of the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), will present a paper in San Diego for the National  Council of Insurance Legislators. The topic will be how mandatory gun liability insurance decreases the chance that people who should not have firearms do not obtain them.

March 15, 2023
Building the Record for Reparations
This event is the second in a series of virtual panels that will explore different approaches to establishing a historical record that can lay the foundation for redress, and consider how such a record can shape policy decisions about remedies.

March 30, 2023
Restorative Justice and Criminal Justice Reform
Join Professor Deborah Ramirez, chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force and faculty co-director of the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), for a virtual discussion with Susan Maze-Rothstein, executive director of the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk Law, on how restorative justice can transform our criminal justice system.

March 31, 2023
Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Conference at Northeastern Law
Celebrating Three Years of the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Project

April 13, 2023
Reentry
Join Northeastern Law’s Criminal Justice Task Force for a virtual discussion on how our state-wide and state-funded reentry network can disrupt the cradle to jail pipeline. Professor Deborah Ramirez, chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force and faculty co-director of the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), will lead the discussion.

May 10, 2023 | 4:00 - 5:15 PM
Denise Carty-Bennia Memorial Bar Awards Reception
The 30th annual Denise Carty-Bennia Memorial Bar Awards Reception will be held on Wednesday, May 10, at Northeastern University School of Law. Dr. Deborah A. Jackson, managing director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), will deliver the keynote address.

May 17, 2023 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM | Zoom
World War II: Black Soldiers and Veterans
Join CRRJ for a virtual conversation with Matthew Delmont, author of the recently published book Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, and Richard Brookshire, executive director of the Black Veterans Project. This workshop will focus on Black World War II soldiers and veterans, and calls for repair.

May 18, 2023
Rethinking Public Safety
Join Professor Deborah Ramirez, chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force and faculty co-director of the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), to rethink the public safety police-centric community policing model. Can we narrow the scope of our armed police and create unarmed, trained, civilian first responders for mental health, substance use disorder, homelessness and other non-violent calls for assistance?

October 20, 2021
Police Accountability: A Discussion with Deborah Ramirez
One of the central concerns about how to produce more equitable and just outcomes has been how to make the police accountable for their misconduct. On Wednesday, October 20, Professor Deborah Ramirez joined the Harvard Kennedy School's Reimagining Community Safety Speaker Series to discuss her four-part solution, which includes restricting police union’s collective bargaining and narrowing qualified immunity by using professional liability insurance, efforts that should save lives by detecting, preventing, and deterring police misconduct.

December 1, 2021
Racial Redress and Reparations: Policy Approaches to Remediating Historical Racial Injustice
Recent years have seen heightened calls for the redress and remediation of historical racial injustice. Policymakers have responded with initiatives that take meaningful steps to address the United States’ long legacy of racial violence and injustice. This convening, sponsored by Northeastern Law's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and the NU School of Public Policy, took a close look at the current laws and proposals put forth by those legislators and public officials who are at the forefront of these efforts.

December 1, 2021 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM | Zoom
Myra Kraft Open Classroom: Plunder, Reparations and Restorative Justice
Watch Professor Margaret Burnham, director of Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, in conversation with Menachem Kaiser, author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, a memoir which recounts his family’s efforts to recover property left behind in Poland after the Holocaust.

December 3, 2021
Celebrating 50 Years of Black Excellence
Northeastern Law’s Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Kemet Chapter was founded in 1971. On December 3, 2021, the Northeastern Law community celebrated the 50th anniversary of BLSA at the School of Law with a celebratory event featuring commemorative speeches, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. We heard from Dean James Hackney, keynote speaker Rachael Rollins ’97 and Genevievre Miller ’23, the current BLSA chair.

January 17, 2022
A Tribute to the Dream
The Northeastern community gathered on Monday, January 17, 2022, to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. The university’s annual event, “A Tribute to the Dream: Voting Rights and the ‘Threat to Justice Everywhere,’” was streamed on Facebook and featured a video tribute by the Reverend Willie Bodrick II ’20, senior pastor at Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church. “What encourages me from Dr. King is that in his moment, he knew it was his time," said Bodrick. "And in this moment, I know that it's my time."

>> Watch Bodrick's video tribute

The year's theme was inspired by the phrase “good trouble,” famously coined by the late US Rep. John Lewis—whose life and work made a lasting mark on the civil rights movement, sparked meaningful action and change in the name of justice and contributed to progress across the nation.

Professor Margaret Burnham, founder and director of Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and the Center Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), sat down with Régine Jean-Charles, director of Northeastern University’s Africana Studies Program and author of A Trumpet of Conscience for the 21st Century: King’s Call to Justice, for a fireside chat.
>> Watch Professor Burnham's fireside chat

January 31 - February 2, 2022
Winter 2022 Daynard Public Interest Law Fellow: Keesha Gaskins-Nathan '99
Keesha Gaskins-Nathan '99 returned to the law school in January 2022 as a Daynard Distinguished Visiting Fellow. A long-time organizer, lobbyist and trial attorney, Gaskins-Nathan is director of the Democratic Practice–United States program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Throughout her career, she has advanced measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the United States to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all residents

April 6, 2022
CRRJ Workshop Series Book Talk: The Silent Shore
Join the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project for a conversation with Professor Charles Chavis, Jr., assistant professor of Conflict Resolution and History at George Mason University. Professor Chavis will discuss his book, The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State.

April 13, 2022
Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture: Tiffany Joseph
Displacement, Citizenship and Human Rights Challenges for the 21st Century
Displacement is an important topic of academic and societal discourse as the number of people on the move globally continues to rise amid socio-economic, political and environmental changes. Professor Tiffany Joseph will discuss the connection between displacement, racial and ethnic relations, the social safety net and its implications for the meaning of citizenship and human rights in the 21st century.

Confronting Racial Injustice 2022 Series
Massachusetts is often heralded as the home of the abolition movement and one of the first states to abolish slavery. Yet the Commonwealth’s economy developed in collaboration with states that claimed people as property. This series explored how enslavement and white supremacy shaped the history of Massachusetts and how they continue to shape its present. Developed by Northeastern Law's Criminal Justice Task Force, Confronting Racial Injustice is a free series of online conversations hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society and sponsored by a number of Boston-area organizations.

Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM | Online Event
Confronting Economic Injustice: The Story of Parcel C

Tuesday, November 17, 2020 | 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM 
Lynching: Reparations as Restorative Justice
A significant and timely conference on reparations as a form of restorative justice for the families of lynching victims, hosted by the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and Africana Studies Program at Northeastern University.
Special guests: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Angela Y. Davis and Congressperson Sheila Jackson Lee

Confronting Racial Injustice
Massachusetts is often heralded as the home of the abolition movement and one of the first states to abolish slavery. Yet the Commonwealth’s economy developed in collaboration with states that claimed people as property. This series explored how enslavement and white supremacy shaped the history of Massachusetts and how they continue to shape its present. From the first program “Slavery and Wealth Creation” to the final event “The Charles Stuart Story: White Lies and Black Lives,” the series asked us all to understand, acknowledge and confront racial injustice.

Developed by Northeastern Law's Criminal Justice Task Force, Confronting Racial Injustice is a free, five-part series hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society and sponsored by a number of Boston-area organizations.

February 18, 2021 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Slavery, Wealth Creation, and Intergenerational Wealth

March 11, 2021 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Redlining: From Slavery to $8 in 400 Years

April 15, 2021 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Boston School Desegregation Through the Rearview Mirror

May 19, 2021 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM
The War on Drugs in Massachusetts: The Racial Impact of the School Zone Law and Other Mandatory Minimum Sentences

June 9, 2021 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM
The Charles Stuart Story: White Lies and Black Lives

Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM 
CRRJ Workshop: Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A conversation with Maya Davis about the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Maya Davis is a member of the Maryland Lynching Commission, Senior Research Archivist for the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, and Executive Director for the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 | 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Has Justice Been Served? Reflections on the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin
Northeastern faculty, student and staff panelists offered reflections on the verdicts in the landmark Derek Chauvin trial, and considered whether this moment marks a turning point in the nation’s acknowledgment of, and accountability for, racial justice. Professor Margaret Burnham, director of the law school’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, spoke at this panel and told News@Northeastern, “This was a moment that affirms the humanity of Black people. The verdict restores a kind of moral balance ....”

March 25, 2020
Film Screening: The Silence of Others
A screening of The Silence of Others, an award-winning documentary directed by Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo.

CRRJ workshop featuring Shytierra Gaston, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Friday, May 1, 2020
Racial Justice, Restoration and Inclusion: Human Rights Principles and Local Practice
This program explored the relevance of human rights norms in efforts to advance racial justice and address historical and ongoing racism, discrimination and intolerance. Speakers examined strategies to shape effective remedies and redress, including reparations abnd restorative justice, drawing from international, national and local examples. Panelists included Carmelyn Malalis ’01, chair of the New York City Human Rights Commission. Professor Margaret Burnham, faculty director of Northeastern Law's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), delivered the keynote address.

Monday, June 8, 2020
How Do We Restore Justice for George Floyd?
A FacebookLive discussion led by Professor Margaret Burnham about civil rights and restorative justice. This discussion was one in a series of events in which we will gather in solidarity to confront racial injustice and chart the course for lasting change.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Connecting with NUSL Centers and Projects Around Racism and Police Brutality
The Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC); Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity (CLIC); Center for Health Policy and Law (CHPL), Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE), Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and NuLawLab invited Northeastern Law students to a virtual meeting to discuss the ways the School of Law's centers and projects can collaborate with and support students in our responses to ongoing structural racism and police brutality.

October 20, 2018
Past Harms, Present Remedies: Law Enforcement and Families Affected by Historical Police Violence in Conversation
Before cell phones and body cameras, African Americans who were killed because of the actions of law enforcement officers had virtually no recourse to courts or justice. Although their cases were ignored by public officials for decades, today families and communities are unearthing the stories of these lost lives and calling for recognition and repair from local police departments and other government leaders. CRRJ is convening a public gathering in New Orleans on Saturday, October 20, 2018, at Loyola College of Law to talk about the impact of deaths at the hands of police in the mid-twentieth century on today’s initiatives to improve police accountability and police-community relations.

October 24, 2018 | 4:00 PM | 360 Dockser Hall
CRRJ Workshop Series | Lift Every Voice: A Way to Meaningful Repair
Linda J. Mann, Visiting Scholar, Alliance for Historical Dialogue & Accountability at Columbia University; VP of Research for the Georgetown Memory Project (GMP)
Dr. Mann will discuss the GMP’s project identifying and locating 300 enslaved people sold by Georgetown University and the Maryland Jesuits to plantations in Louisiana in 1838 and tracing their direct descendants.

October 30, 2018 | 4:00 PM | 240 Dockser Hall
Sighted Eyes | Feeling Heart
Screening of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, a documentary directed by Tracy Heather Strain, Northeastern Professor of Media and Screen Studies and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker. The screening was followed by a conversation with the Tracy Heather Strain and a panel featuring Professor Margaret Burnham, Director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.

November 14, 2018
CRRJ Workshop Series: Freedom’s Cost: Children & Youth in the Black Freedom Struggle
Francoise Hamlin, Africana Studies and History, Brown University Dr. Hamlin’s project positions children and youth at the center of the postwar African American civil rights movements by addressing activism’s personal and communal costs.

December 12, 2018
CRRJ Workshop Series: Silences and Erasures
Diane Harriford, Africana Studies, Women’s Studies and Sociology, Vassar College; Visiting Scholar, CRRJ
Dr. Harriford is utilizing the CRRJ-Nobles Archive to examine the intersection of gender and sexuality with the racial violence documented there.  She explores, in the context of this violence, women’s resistance, the impact of heterosexual or homosexual affective ties across race, and black and white masculine identity.

January 25, 2019
Tribute to the Dream: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On January 25, the Northeastern community gathered to pay homage to the life and values of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the power of film, music and conversation. The event featured the premier of “Murder in Mobile,” a documentary featuring the law school’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic (CRRJ) and the 1948 murder of Rayfield Davis, whose case was unearthed and investigated by Chelsea Schmitz ’13. Danielle Ponder ’11 (right) set the tone for the premiere with her band, The Tomorrow People.

Following the screening, Professor Margaret Burnham, founder and director of CRRJ, conversed with Professor Roderick L. Ireland, former chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. “The accounting that we’re doing, the accumulating of cases, is in part a response to Martin Luther King’s challenge that there is an unpaid debt,” Burnham said. “Because those stories have to be told in order for us fully to understand our history. Simply collecting material is not enough."

Murder in Mobile

October 20-21, 2017 | Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Resurrecting Their Stories: A Community-based Oral History Project
Proudly presented by NUSL's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), The Elmore Bolling Foundation and Alabama NAACP.

June 9-11, 2017
Resurrecting Their Stories: A Community-based Oral History Project
Proudly presented by NUSL's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, Tuskegee University Archives, The Elmore Bolling Foundation and Alabama NAACP.

June 17, 2017
Reparative Justice and Social Healing: Research and Reflection on Historic Violence
Proudly presented as part of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice’s Sixth National Conference, this three-hour session will bring together artists, activists and researchers to think creatively about the national movement to come to terms with, and transcend, historic racial violence.

January 26, 2018 | Northeastern University School of Law
Digital Red Records
A workshop, hosted by CRRJ, on digital collections covering historical racial violence in the United States.

March 3, 2018 | Selma, Alabama
Resurrecting Their Stories: A Community-based Oral History Project
The third in a three-part symposium series. Prior workshops were held at Tuskegee University and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

March 10, 2018 |  West Point, Georgia
Henry “Peg” Gilbert and Mae Gilbert: Honoring Their Lives and Restoring Justice
Professor Margaret Burnham and Tara Dunn ’17 joined the family of Henry “Peg” Gilbert and Mae Gilbert for an event reflecting on their lives and recalling the police murder of Henry Gilbert in 1947.

March 17, 2018 | Natchez, Mississippi
CRRJ Honors Samuel Mason Bacon 
Professor Margaret Burnham, Kaylie Simon and Mary Nguyen ’14 joined the family of Samuel Bacon at the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture to honor the life and legacy of Samuel Bacon.

August 18, 2018
Recalling Their Names: Racial Terror in Jim Crow Mobile
The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project’s (CRRJ) investigation of six Jim Crow-era murders will be featured in an exhibit, “Murders in Mobile,” opening August 18 at the History Museum of Mobile in Alabama. In addition, a Mobile street will be named in honor of Rayfield Davis, one of the murder victims.