headshot of Dr. Margaret Burnham
Professor Margaret Burnham,
Founder and Director

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

Project Archivist

Jay Driskell

Lead Historian

Program Director, RRRLab

Malcolm Clarke

ELIZABETH ZITRIN JUSTICE FELLOW

Olivia Strange

Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellow

Communications specialist

Program Manager

Lydia Beal

Research Assistant

Vickie Rothbaum

Editor

Ann Baum

Editor

Nancy Earsy

Editor

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

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
Attorney
Skellenger Bender P.S.
Fania Davis

Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director,
Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth

David J. Dennis
Southern Initiative
Algebra Project
Robert P. Moses
Founder and Director
Algebra Project
Charles Ogletree Jr.

Jesse Climenko Professor of Law (Ret.)
Harvard Law School

Ruby Sales
Founder and Director
Spirithouse Project
Hollis Watkins
Legislative Liaison
Southern Echo

Affiliates

Northeastern University
College of Arts, Media and Design
· · ·

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

School of Law
· · ·

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
Director, The Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice

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.

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 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

crrj@northeastern.edu

617-373-3495

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