Margaret Burnham

Stock photo of the The New York Times Magazine on Aug. 20, 2019. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

What we can learn from the backlash to the The New York Times history of slavery in the United States

“There has been a sustained campaign to erase the experience of enslaved people and the consequences and legacy of slavery in America,” says Margaret Burnham, director of Northeastern’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. “But this is American history, and you have to face it to fix it.”

by Molly Callahan August 21, 2019

Toni Morrison’s groundbreaking novels about black history and identity helped to advance issues of civil rights and racial justice. The author was the keynote speaker at an event at Northeastern University in 2013, and afterward, she met with families who’d lost a relative to racial violence. Photo by Mary Knox Merrill/Northeastern University

Toni Morrison’s influence extends beyond literature

Morrison, whose groundbreaking novels about black history and identity opened the door for scores of authors who followed, also helped to advance issues of civil rights and racial justice.

by Molly Callahan August 9, 2019

Murder In Mobile hits the red carpets

The documentary by Northeastern Films will be shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on Saturday as part of the Roxbury International Film Festival—one of many screenings for this story of reclaimed justice.

by Ian Thomsen June 18, 2019

Here’s what these professors say is missing from the national debate over blackface

What happens when the people we entrust with our lives and well-being compromise their credibility with a single photo? Northeastern professors Margaret Burnham and Moya Bailey take on the recent blackface controversies.

by Khalida Sarwari February 22, 2019

‘A response to Martin Luther King’s challenge’

Murder in Mobile, a documentary by Adam Fischer and Benjamin Bertsch, the creative directors of Northeastern Films, premiered Friday before a standing-room audience on the Boston campus as part of Northeastern’s week-long celebration dedicated to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Ian Thomsen January 25, 2019

Murder in Mobile

A Northeastern project unearthed the case of Rayfield Davis, a black man who was murdered in 1948 in Mobile, Alabama, by a white man who was never prosecuted. The story is told in a new documentary by Northeastern Films, which premieres at 2 p.m. Friday on Northeastern’s Boston campus as part of a celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. All are welcome.

by Ian Thomsen January 24, 2019

After seven decades, Alabama honors Jim Crow-era victims

Northeastern’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project investigated the murders of six black men that went unpunished in the 1940s. Their stories were revealed in Mobile on Saturday.

by Ian Thomsen August 18, 2018

Northeastern faculty, Lebanese judiciary convene in Beirut to discuss alternatives to incarceration

A delegation of Northeastern faculty members recently traveled to Beirut to help Lebanon’s Higher Judicial Council explore the possibility of using plea bargaining as a tool to alleviate the nation’s overcrowded prison system. “Any reform will have to be tailored to suit the Lebanese system and their legal culture,” said law professor Daniel Medwed, who participated in the discussions.

by Jason Kornwitz October 17, 2017

How can journalism ‘move the conversation forward’ on race?

In the wake of racially charged rallies like the one in Charlottesville, Virginia last month, and as cities take stock of their histories by way of statutes, landmarks, and street names such as Yawkey Way in Boston, Northeastern’s School of Journalism hosted a media gut-check to examine how journalists should be covering these events. The consensus? There are no easy answers.

by Molly Callahan September 22, 2017

Bringing justice, and closure, in civil rights cold cases

Legislation signed last month by President Barack Obama permanently extended federal authorities’ opportunity to pursue civil rights cold cases. Law professor Margaret Burnham says the reauthorization bill’s passage “makes it clear that this is a national priority.”

by Greg St. Martin January 5, 2017

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