Martin Luther King Jr.

Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People protest the Boston school committee in 1963. This photo is among thousands of online records available within the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern Library (image published by the Boston Globe, courtesy of the James W. Fraser Photograph Collection). Courtesy of the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections

How did the Black Lives Matter movement get to where it is today?

Historical perspective on the civil rights movements of the past is offered by the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern Library. “Placing the current movement in a much longer time horizon really gives you critical context,” says Dan Cohen, dean of the university library.

by Ian Thomsen August 6, 2020

Margaret Burnham is the director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and university distinguished professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

How do today’s Black Lives Matter protests compare to the civil rights movement of the 1960s?

Margaret Burnham, university distinguished professor of law, and director of Northeastern’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, offers a lifetime of perspective on how to confront systemic racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a police officer.

by Ian Thomsen June 4, 2020

A vibrant sunset followed a violent snow squall and lit up the pedestrian bridge that unites the Roxbury and Fenway neighborhoods, where the Boston campus is located. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

January in photos

We opened an innovation and research hub in Portland, Maine; investigated a mysterious coral disease in the waters off Panama; and learned how to grow greens at an indoor farm in Burlington, Massachusetts. This and much more, all through the lenses of News@Northeastern’s award-winning photographers.

by Ruby Wallau and Matthew Modoono February 3, 2020

Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, and Patricia J. Williams,
University Distinguished Professor of law and humanities, and students have a conversation on civil rights in the age of artificial intelligence during A Tribute to the Dream: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

‘Dr. King’s message is universal’

In celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Patricia Williams, University Distinguished Professor of law and humanities, and Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, led a discussion of the problem of civil rights in the age of artificial intelligence.

by Ian Thomsen January 16, 2020

Murder in Mobile: A documentary short film about race, murder, and one family’s search for the truth 70 years later

In 1948, in Mobile, Alabama, a black man named Rayfield Davis was beaten to death by a white man who was not prosecuted. The crime…

by Adam Fischer and Benjamin Bertsch January 28, 2019

The 1948 unresolved murder of Rayfield Davis in Mobile, Alabama, is told in a new documentary by Northeastern Films.

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

Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

Northeastern celebrates 50 years of the John D. O'Bryant African American Institute

A commitment to inspiring students toward excellence, success, and service. A model for inclusiveness on Northeastern’s campus. A “home away from home” for students. This was how members of the Northeastern community described the impact the institute has had on students and the broader university community over the past 50 years.

by Greg St. Martin November 10, 2018

Ramachandra Guha talks about his book, Why Gandhi Matters, during a lecture in the Raytheon Amphitheater on October 18, 2018. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

Gandhi was born 149 years ago, and he is still missed

Award-winning biographer and historian Ramachandra Guha gave two lectures on the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and the issues of modern-day India on Thursday at Northeastern. “Compare him with Churchill or de Gaulle or Roosevelt or Stalin," Guha said of Gandhi. "These other people, you couldn’t just go and talk with them."

by Ian Thomsen October 19, 2018

Students, faculty and staff filled the 17th Floor of East Village for

Tribute honors King’s legacy, examines race in America

A panel of scholars examined the role of race in society at Northeastern’s annual “A Tribute to the Dream” event on Tuesday. “Just as learning doesn’t end when we step out of the classroom, neither does our responsibility to fulfill Dr. King’s dream,” President Aoun said.

by Molly Callahan January 17, 2018

01/19/17 - BOSTON, MA. CEO and President of the NAACP Cornell William Brooks was the Keynote speaker of an event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in the Curry Student Center Ballroom on Jan. 19, 2017. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern

Northeastern, NAACP president consider ‘What would Dr. King do now?’

As part of Northeastern’s weeklong commemoration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the university hosted Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, and other leaders to discuss civil rights issues facing America today and in the future.

by Molly Callahan January 20, 2017