Founder and Director
We sponsor dynamic interdisciplinary research, foster new pedagogies, and support remedial practice on the national and community level.
Launched in 2007 by University Distinguished Professor Margaret Burnham and now directed by Professors Burnham and Rose Zoltek-Jick, CRRJ supports the academic and teaching projects of scholars within and beyond Northeastern University, and the restorative justice efforts in communities to honor this history.
Law enforcement systems, particularly in the Deep South, failed to protect African American citizens from widespread racial terror from the end of the Civil War through the Civil Rights era.
Communities across the country are grappling with how to address the ongoing harms decades after these events. A major contributor to the initial wrongdoing, legal institutions must play a central role in this reparative work. CRRJ studies and promotes a range of policy approaches to enable this work, including criminal justice remedies, truth proceedings, and legislative initiatives.
Programs
Education
Classrooms, student investigative work with communities, fellowships, toolkits and curricula · Learn more»
CRRJ Burnham-Nobles Archive
Repository of primary source documents, still images and interviews on cases of racially motivated homicides in 14 states, between 1930 and 1970 · Go to the Digital Archive»
Restorative Justice
Efforts that speak to the descendants of racial terror, foster accountability, support reparations, honor the healing process, memorialize victims, and further racial reconciliation · Learn more»
Media
Our blog Headlight, a podcast series, and documentary films centering on the voices of families and communities affected by racial terror.
Events
Scholarly panels and workshops, restorative justice events across the country: including conferences, commemorations, public apologies and historical marker unveilings · See all»
CRRJ and the Center for Law, Equity and Race
Established in November 2021 as a new Center of Excellence at the Northeastern University School of Law, the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR) was created to strengthen and expand the phenomenal work of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.
CLEAR aims to explore new ways to address the continuing challenges of racial injustice and social inequities, using the frameworks of innovative pedagogy, theoretical research, public policy development, and academic and community collaborations.
Under the leadership of Margaret Burnham, CRRJ has been the Nation’s leading and pioneer academic center in the expanding field of historical injustice.
CLEAR will support this work, and expand its research and pedagogical agenda.
Staff
Malcolm Clarke
ELIZABETH ZITRIN JUSTICE FELLOW
Olivia Strange
Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellow
Communications specialist
Advisors
Ifetayo Belle ‘10
Senior Staff Attorney
School Justice Project
Janeen Blake ’09
Sr. Director
Legal Counsel at Takeda
Tasmin Din ’10
Attorney
Morningside Technology Advisory LLC
Tara Dunn ‘17
Litigator
Todd & Weld LLP
Bayliss Fiddiman
Director of Educational Equity, Senior Counsel, National Women’s Law Center
Hon. Geraldine Hines
Associate Justice (Ret.)
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Professor of Law, Northeastern University
Mary Nguyen ‘14
Assistant Attorney General
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office
Melissa Nobles
Chancellor
Professor, Political Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rashida Richardson ’11
Professor of law, Northeastern university
Kaylie Simon ‘11
Deputy Public Defender
Contra Costa County, CA
Honorary Advisors
Rita L. Bender
Skellenger Bender P.S.
Fania Davis
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director,
Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth
David J. Dennis
Algebra Project
Ruby Sales
Spirithouse Project
In Memoriam
Advisors and colleagues whose work has significantly impacted CRRJ’s mission.
Hollis Watkins
Southern Echo
Charles Ogletree Jr.
Jesse Climenko Professor of Law (Ret.)
Harvard Law School
Robert P. Moses
Algebra Project
Julian Bond
Chair
NAACP Board of Directors
Manning Marable
Professor public affairs, history and African-American Studies
Columbia University
Honoring Bob Moses and His Connection to CRRJ
We would like to add our voice in tribute to Robert “Bob” Moses, one of the founding members of CRRJ’s Honorary Board of Advisors, who died on Sunday at the age of 86.…
Hollis Watkins, Activist and Advisor, Honored by CRRJ
Hollis Watkins, CRRJ advisor, voting rights activist and key figure in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, passed away on September 20, 2023, aged 82.
Affiliates
Northeastern University
· · ·
Professor of Journalism
Associate Professor of Communications Studies
Professor of Journalism
College of Social Sciences and Humanities
· · ·
Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies
Professor of Practice in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Professor of Africana Studies, History, and Digital Humanities
· · ·
Director, NuLawLab
Creative Director, Nulawlab and Stable Ground Boston
Professor of Law
Snell Library
· · ·
Digital Metadata & Ingest Supv, Digital Production Services
Digital Scholarship Developer, Digital Scholarship Group
Digital Production Coordinator, Digital Production Services
Head, Archives and Special Collections and University Archivist
Associate Director for Systems, Digital Scholarship Group
Project Archivist, Archives and Special Collections
Data Engineer, Digital Scholarship Group
Associate Director, Digital Scholarship Group and Digital Humanities Librarian
Head, Digital Production Services
Southern University Law Center
John Pierre
Chancellor
Ada Goodly
Research Collaborators
Jeffrey Adler
Professor of History
University of FLorida
David Cunningham
PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AT ST. LOUIS
Shytierra Gaston
PROFESSOR OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE & CRIMINOLOGY
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Diane Harriford
PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY
VASSAR COLLEGE
Jennifer Llewellyn
PROFESSOR OF LAW
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
Monica Martinez
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN
Margaret M. Russell
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
Geoff Ward
Professor of African and African-American Studies
Washington University at St. Louis
Nan Elizabeth Woodruff
Professor of History (Ret.)
Pennsylvania State University
Opportunities
CRRJ, in collaboration with the Law School and other University programs, offers several opportunities to participate in our programs.
Former Zitrin Fellow Melvin Kelley, congressional briefing on the Till Act
Northeastern University Students:
CRRJ hosts co-op students from the Law School and provides internships for students across the University. Inquire by email here.
Fellowships:
Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellow Program
The Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellowship is a clinical fellowship for recent law graduates that offers opportunities for professional development in the fields of civil rights, criminal justice, and restorative justice. The fellow teaches and mentors law students, develops courses and course material and contributes to advocacy-oriented programs and projects. The Fellowship is available to those licensed to practice law in a US jurisdiction with one to three years of experience working in civil rights or criminal justice, in litigation, government practice, or academic research. This one year appointment is renewable for a second year, subject to performance and CRRJ needs. To learn more about Elizabeth Zitrin and past fellows, visit Zitrin Foundation Creates Endowed Fund.
Community Fellow
CRRJ seeks to expand its work with historically harmed communities by providing them meaningful access to the Archive and by facilitating community-based research. The Community Fellow will have the opportunity to utilize the Archive and interact with experts, journalists and others who are focusing on historical racism in the US and seeking avenues for redress.
Visitors:
CRRJ offers to professional researchers the opportunity to join a vibrant community of scholars and activists with the benefit of institutional affiliation, workspace at CRRJ and access to the Burnham Nobles Archive. Visiting Scholars present work in progress to the Northeastern community. They may visit for up to a year or a shorter period. Inquire by email here.
Support
Our work is supported by individual donors and grants from The Carnegie Corporation, the Zitrin Foundation of San Francisco, The Ford Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and Northeastern University. Individual donations support our students’ field work.
Contact Us
Northeastern University School of Law
Dockser Hall #120
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115