To celebrate the decade-long partnership between the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and the Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice at Southern University Law Center (SULC), members of both organizations gathered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last July. Each summer, SULC students investigate cases, following the pedagogy outlined and developed by the CRRJ Clinic, and present their findings before a panel of experts.Together, the schools investigate historical cases of anti-Black violence in the Jim Crow era, uncovering the truth and seeking justice for victims’ descendants, in recognition of the pain and trauma their families have endured for generations.

“We could not have imagined, when we first ran a CRRJ clinic at Southern University Law Center in 2014, that one of the students in that classroom would keep the torch burning for a decade,” said Professor Margaret Burnham, founder and director of CRRJ. “Ada Goodly Lampkin [director of the Berry Institute] and her team are to be saluted for their creative leadership, stellar teaching and enormous contributions to our common mission — unearthing these historical atrocities and finding avenues for commemoration and reparation. We are deeply honored to be SULC’s partner in this research.”