Southern University Law Center (SULC) celebrates a decade-long partnership between Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and the Southern University Law Center’s Louis A. Berry institute for Civil Rights & Justice.
Together, teams from CRRJ, directed by Professor Margaret Burnham, and SULC, led by Ada Goodly-Lampkin, have spent ten years investigating historical cases of Jim Crow-era anti-Black violence, 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 Burnham. “Ada Goodly-Lampkin 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.”
Each summer, a cohort of SULC students are assigned several cases, prepared collaboratively by CRRJ attorneys and historian Dr. Jay Driskell. They spend several weeks extensively investigating these cases, following the pedagogy outlined and developed by CRRJ’s Clinic, and present their findings before a panel of experts at Internship Grand Rounds, which was this year held July 14 at the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, LA.
"As we look back on the past ten years, we are reminded of the profound impact that our partnership has had on individuals and communities,” said Goodly- Lampkin, who described her affiliation with the program as “the highlight of [her] legal career.”
Their research is organized for inclusion in The Burnham Nobles Digital Archive, a CRRJ initiative — supported by the Ford Mellon Foundation and Northeastern University Library — that seeks to document and preserve, the histories of lethal crimes against African Americans in the Jim Crow South.
“As we look back on the past ten years, we are reminded of the profound impact that our partnership has had on individuals and communities,” said Goodly-Lampkin, who described her affiliation with the program as “the highlight of [her] legal career.”
To commemorate the ten year partnership, SULC’s Louis A. Berry Institute held an anniversary ceremony. A brief video was then played to those in attendance, highlighting some the groundbreaking work produced by this partnership.
Moving testimonies were shared by family members of victims from the clinic’s case investigations, including Southern University Police Department Chief Joycelyn Johnson and her uncle, Fred Selvage. Of their presence at the celebration, Rose Zoltek-Jick noted that the event added a dimension of reality that even the power of records cannot produce..
Former students of the program, Bayliss Fiddiman, along with SULC students Breanna Magee and RayVon Addison, spoke of their time investigative efforts and how it prepared them for their future legal careers.
On the future of the collaboration, Goodly-Lampkin said they remain committed to continuing this vital work.
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