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 Reading Room»
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 · See all»
Events
Scholarly panels and workshops, restorative justice events across the country: including conferences, commemorations, public apologies and historical marker unveilings · See all»
Staff
Project Archivist
Jay Driskell
Lead Historian
Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellow
Legal Fellow
Program Coordinator
Christopher Bazen
Project Director, Oral History
Diane Harriford
Visiting Scholar, Vassar College, Sociology
Nancy Earsy
Editor
Vickie Rothbaum
Editor
Ann Baum
Editor
Emily Spieler
Senior Advisor
Advisors
Ifetayo Belle ‘10
Senior Staff Attorney
School Justice Project
Janeen Blake ’09
Sr. Director
Legal Counsel at Takeda
Tasmin Din ’10
Associate
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Tara Dunn ‘17
Litigator
Todd & Weld LLP
Hon. Geraldine Hines
Associate Justice (Ret.)
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Melvin Kelley, III
Professor of Law, Villanova University
Mary Nguyen ‘14
Assistant Attorney General
Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office
Melissa Nobles
Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Professor, Political Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rashida Richardson ’11
Visiting Scholar
Rutgers School of Law
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
Robert P. Moses
Algebra Project
Charles Ogletree Jr.
Jesse Climenko Professor of Law (Ret.)
Harvard Law School
Ruby Sales
Spirithouse Project
Hollis Watkins
Southern Echo
Affiliates
Northeastern University
· · ·
Michael Beaudet
Professor of Journalism
Patricia Davis
Associate Professor of Communications Studies
Laurel Leff
Professor of Journalism
College of Social Sciences and Humanities
· · ·
Nicole Aljoe
Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies
Jack McDevitt
Professor of Practice in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Ángel Nieves
Professor of Africana Studies, History, and Digital Humanities
· · ·
Dan Jackson
Director, NuLawLab
Jules Rochielle Sievert
Creative Director, Nulawlab and Stable Ground Boston
Deborah Ramirez
Professor of Law
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
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.
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.
Applications for the 2021-22 Zitrin Fellowship are due April 1, 2021.
Community Leadership Fellows Program
The CRRJ Community Leadership Fellowship program provides an opportunity for dynamic activists working with community and nonprofit organizations to investigate the Burnham Nobles Archive and to interact with scholars, journalists and other activists who are focusing on historical racism in the US and avenues for redress. There are no academic requirements for selection. Applicants with a history of anti-racist activism are encouraged to apply. Community Leadership Fellows will have opportunities to exchange with CRRJ faculty, staff and students, and with local activists in the Boston area. While the fellowship does not include a stipend, fellows will have access to office space, library, and technology support.
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