Sally Chalfant Wolf ’80 Establishes $1.3 Million Visiting Professorship in Honor of Professor Margaret Burnham

08.05.26 — Sally Chalfant Wolf ’80 has made a transformative $1 million commitment to Northeastern Law to establish the Margaret Burnham Endowed Visiting Professorship in Civil Rights, honoring Professor Burnham’s legacy as a legendary educator, award-winning author, activist and internationally recognized expert in civil rights. The professorship, which will be funded through Ms. Wolf’s estate, will create a permanent resource for Northeastern University and the School of Law, bringing accomplished scholars, practitioners and distinguished artists with civil rights expertise to campus to share new perspectives and drive national conversations on civil rights.

The gift also includes $300,000 in immediate annual support, allowing the law school to name a new director for the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) during a critical leadership transition, following Professor Burnham’s retirement in June 2026.

“Great legal education depends on exposure to diverse perspectives and exceptional teachers and practitioners,” said Ms. Wolf, who met Professor Burnham in the 1970s while working as a paralegal in the prisoners’ rights field. “Margaret’s visionary work investigating racially motivated violence from our nation's past and her leadership in advocating for justice for affected communities and families has inspired me and so many others. I’m thrilled to carry her legacy forward at Northeastern so that future lawyers and leaders continue this critical work. She is an exceptional professor and an extraordinary person. It is a privilege to honor Margaret through this gift.”

Professor Burnham began her legal career at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In the 1970s, she represented people fighting for their civil rights, prisoners’ rights and political activists. In 1977, she became the first African American woman to serve in the Massachusetts judiciary, joining the Boston Municipal Court bench as an associate justice. In 1982, she became a partner in a Boston civil rights firm with an international human rights practice. In 1993, South African president Nelson Mandela appointed her to an international human rights commission investigating alleged human rights violations within the African National Congress, and in 2022 the U.S. Senate confirmed her as a member of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. She is the author of the award-winning book By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners.

In 2007, Professor Burnham founded the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and directed its clinic, through which hundreds of Northeastern Law students have investigated racially motivated killings of Black people in the Jim Crow South between 1930 and 1970 — scouring historical newspapers, archival collections, federal records and genealogical databases to bring long-overlooked cases to light. That work led to the creation of the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive, a comprehensive online collection documenting more than 1,000 cases of anti-Black racial violence, co-founded by Professor Burnham and MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles.

Additionally Professor Burnham co-founded and served as faculty co-director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR).

“Our community is immensely grateful to Sally and thankful for her incredibly generous commitment establishing the Margaret Burnham Endowed Visiting Professorship. Sally’s generosity reflects a shared commitment to academic excellence and to civil rights,” said Dean James Hackney. “Professor Burnham’s decades of scholarship and advocacy have shaped how we think about justice, and this professorship ensures her legacy continues to bring extraordinary voices to our community.”

The celebration of the Margaret Burnham Endowed Visiting Professorship will take place on Friday, October 16 at Northeastern University. More information to follow.

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