Professor Margaret Burnham

Photograph by Mark Ostow

How Mighty Is Her Pen

In By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners, Professor Margaret Burnham examines the true scope and nature of Jim Crow-era violence, the laws that condoned it and their legacy today. We warmly congratulate this distinguished professor on the many awards, nominations and accolades the book has received, including:

  • Hillman Prize: winner in the book category
  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize: winner in the history category
  • Nautilus Book Award: gold medal for journalism and investigative reporting
  • NPR: Books We Love in 2022
  • Named a Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, Kirkus, Chicago Public Library and Publishers Weekly 
  • Massachusetts Book Awards Must-Read Nonfiction: long listed
  • Kirkus Prize: finalist in nonfiction
  • Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction: long listed

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Spotlight

  • Northeastern Law is pleased to welcome four exceptional new faculty members: Rosa Hayes, Ryan Quinn ’19, Veryl Pow and Katheryn Russell-Brown.

  • For the past three years, Professor Andrew Haile and first-year students in the Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC) program have worked with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, a Dorchester-based community organization that supports and serves individuals and families whose loved ones were murdered in the Boston area.

  • Professor Hemanth Gundavaram, associate dean for academic and faculty affairs and director of Northeastern Law’s Immigrant Justice Clinic, received the university’s 2025 John Portz Faculty Excellence Award in May.