Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project

04/14/2026

📣 TODAY is your last chance to support Northeastern University School of Law's CRRJ during Giving Day 2026. We are so close to reaching our target! Please help us and support the continuation of our vital work: https://givingday.northeastern.edu/s/fund-details?dc=GF1981-26

04/10/2026

Giving Day is back, and CRRJ would like your support: https://givingday.northeastern.edu/s/fund-details?dc=GF1981-26

This year we have a special challenge!

***If 25 donors give to the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project Fund, Northeastern University School of Law's Sally Chalfant Wolf ’80 will give $10,000 to that same fund.***

Please help us reach this goal and support the continuation of our vital work.

03/24/2026

Superb retelling of Eleanor Rush's death in 1954 thank you The Assembly and Michael Hewlett for focusing on this case, honoring her story with accurate and thorough research, restoring dignity to Rush and, by extension, victims with similar histories.

Read the full story:

Newly released federal records shed light on Eleanor Rush's 1954 death in a North Carolina prison—and the uprising and reforms that followed.

03/22/2026

TOMORROW March 23: Northeastern University School of Law's annual Hope Lewis Distinguished Lecture, with UCLA's Professor Cheryl Harris, discussing 30 years of critical Race Studies. This is a hybrid event, starting at 11:15 a.m. EST.

🎟️ Register: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/puufmk2

03/16/2026

THERE'S STILL ⏰
Secure your seat at Northeastern University School of Law's annual Hope Lewis DistinguishedLecture, March 23, to hear Professor Cheryl Harris of the University of California, Los Angeles - School of Law, discussing 30 years of critical Race Studies. This is a hybrid event, starting at 11:15 a.m. EST.
🎟️ Register: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/puufmk2

03/03/2026

Join our Northeastern University School of Law colleagues at the Center for Law, Equity and Race's annual Hope Lewis Lecture, on March 23. This year they will be joined by UCLA's Professor Cheryl Harris, discussing 30 years of critical Race Studies. This is a hybrid event, in Northeastern's Dockser Hall and online, starting at 11:15 a.m. EST. Lunch will be served before the event to those attending in-person.

Register: https://lnkd.in/g5ERTZqY

03/03/2026

Our Director Margaret Burnham to be honored at this year's MassBar ceremony, March 5. Congratulations!

Professor Margaret Burnham will be honored by the Massachusetts Bar Foundation with a Great Friend of Justice Award at the organization’s annual meeting on March 5.

02/27/2026

📺 WATCH: Margaret Burnham, CRRJ Director, on ABC News, talking about the declaration of innocence and wrongful ex*****on of Tommy Lee Walker 👇

ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with Edward Smith, son of Tommy Lee Walker, about his father being declared innocent after 70 years and professor Margaret Burnham on what this means for justice.

02/26/2026

Dallas County Commissioners Court posthumously proclaimed Mr. Walker’s innocence in the 1954 racially-fueled capital murder case.

01/22/2026

NEWS: "This case reminds us of how much must still be done to map the lethality and legacy of Jim Crow terror." -- Northeastern University School of Law's Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ director & co-counsel to Mr. Smith.

CRRJ is proud of the hard work, determination and courage that we, the Innocence Project and the Dallas County DA's office -- along with Walker's relatives (including his only son, Edward, pictured below) and the Dallas County's Commissioners -- poured into securing this historic declaration of innocence and wrongful conviction in an ex*****on case.

Dallas County Commissioners Court posthumously proclaimed Mr. Walker’s innocence in the 1954 racially-fueled capital murder case.