Six student interns, who spent nine weeks investigating close to 100 cases of racially motivated homicides, presented their findings and proposed avenues for further research before CRRJ team members and associates.

“In addition to these case investigations, these students have supported our interdisciplinary projects and research into historical police killings, and conducted research for our federal reparations project,” said Malcolm Clarke, CRRJ’s Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellow, who supervised the students throughout the summer.

The decade-long partnership between Northeastern University School of Law's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and the Southern University Law Center's Louis A. Berry institute for Civil Rights & Justice (SULC) was celebrated at the school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.



Together, teams from CRRJ, directed by Professor Margaret Burnham, and SULC, led by Ada Goodly Lampkin, have spent 10 years investigating historical cases of Jim Crow-era anti-Black violence, uncovering the truth and seeking justice for victims’ descendants, in recognition of the pain and trauma their families have endured for generations.

More than eight decades after he was shot and killed by a military police officer on the outskirts of Fort Benning, Georgia, and found to have died “not in the line of duty,” Private Albert King was honored in a full military service, March 24, 2024.

The ceremony at Porterdale Cemetery, Columbus, GA accorded King the recognition he was denied so many decades ago. A new headstone was unveiled, full military honors were given and proclamations were made by the offices of Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-MI) and Congressman Sanford Bishop (D-GA).

The service was hosted by Helen Russell, Pvt. King’s surviving cousin, CRRJ and the law firm of Morgan Lewis. It was conducted by the Georgia Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors Program. The Garrison Commander at Fort Moore, Colonel Colin Mahle, and the Base Commanding General, Curtis A. Buzzard, were also in attendance. 

At the end of April, four students from CRRJ's 2024 Spring Clinic traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, a trip that signified the culmination of their clinical investigations. Isabella Ulm '24, Morgan Heithcock '25, Brianne Ortiz '25, and Heather Atherton '25 were accompanied by CRRJ'S Elizabeth Zitrin Fellow and clinical instructor, Attorney Olivia Strange.

These students had spent 15 weeks meticulously pouring over documents related to their case investigations, including the 1953 killing of Sydney Batiste, murdered when he was 17 years old by Sergeant Edward Touzet.

The group’s aim was two-fold: for the students to share their findings with Sidney Batiste’s family and to hear from them first-hand what was known about his killing; and to discuss this case, and Officer Touzet’s violent record, with the DA’s office in pursuit of any opportunity to achieve restorative justice for those impacted by the brutality of this killer cop.

It was announced on January 24, 2024, that the City of Boston's Task Force on Reparations has selected a Northeastern University School of Law team, led by CRRJ Director Margaret Burnham, to research the multi-generational impact of slavery on Black Bostonians. The team's report will play a central role in guiding the city's reparations efforts.

"Our goal will be to highlight how power was exercised in the City of Boston to allocate resources, benefiting certain groups and burdening others,” said Burnham, who heads Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and is co-director of the school’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR).

Burnham will co-lead the team with Dr. Deborah A. Jackson, managing director of CLEAR. The group will conduct archival research into the legacies of slavery as they affected public education, public services, housing, and economic development from 1940 to the present in the City.

To mark Black History Month, CRRJ invited Professor Kellie Carter Jackson to present her new book, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance.

Accompanying a reading from her manuscript, Carter Jackson led a discussion about the pervasive oversimplification of violent and nonviolent resistance to white supremacy. She argued that both forms of Black resistance are legitimate and both can exist simultaneously.

“This book pushes against and beyond the dominant civil rights narrative that conditions us to see Black people as worthy actors because of their commitment to nonviolence,” she read.