February 2027 Campaign
Black History Month
Black History MonthAll of February 2027
From Dred Scott to Callais, the constitutional arc of racial justice runs straight through legal history. You are the next chapter.
Opinions
Read current voting-rights holdings in the Court’s official opinion archive
Primary-source standard
Legal holdings and quantitative claims must be checked against official court opinions, statutes, agency datasets, Census products, or Northeastern program pages. Advocacy organizations remain useful research and action destinations, but their analysis is not presented as controlling authority. Future 2027 programming remains provisional until its organizer publishes it.
01
Why this campaign
Northeastern Law's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project has 1,150+ documented racial homicide case files from the Jim Crow South. Prof. Margaret Burnham sits on the federal Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. The CRRJ launched a Federal Reparations Project in February 2025. NUSL is not observing Black History Month from a distance — it is doing the work.
For FlexJD students in Honolulu and nationwide: every resource here is accessible by phone, email, or web. Every career pathway listed hires from every geography. Every organization listed has remote programming.
This is the through-line for the campaign: the law of race in America, from the Supreme Court's declaration that Black people have 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect' to its 2026 ruling gutting the last meaningful tool for challenging racial vote dilution. Future lawyers need to hold this entire arc in their heads.
Emergency & key contacts — keep these close
NAACP LDF (civil rights litigation + Marshall-Motley Scholars)
NAACP (membership + BHM programming)
naacp.org | Derrick Johnson, President/CEO
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
lawyerscommittee.org | 1-866-OUR-VOTE (Election Protection)
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI + Legal Fellowship)
eji.org | Fellowship applications Aug. 3–Nov. 6, 2026
Show 12 more critical contacts
National Bar Association
nationalbar.org | Pres. Ashley Upkins
NBLSA (Northeast: NEBLSA)
Thurgood Marshall College Fund
Brennan Center for Justice
The Sentencing Project
Prison Policy Initiative
AAPF (Kimberlé Crenshaw + intersectionality)
aapf.org | #SayHerName
NUSL CRRJ (Burnham; Federal Reparations Project)
crrj.org | crrj@northeastern.edu | 617-373-3495
NUSL CLEAR (Burnham + Ramirez)
NUSL BLSA Kemet Chapter
blsa@northeastern.edu | @nusl_blsa
John D. O'Bryant African American Institute
JDOAAI@northeastern.edu | Dr. Richard O'Bryant
Find@Northeastern (24/7 counseling)
02
By the numbers
Statistics
Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly 5x the white rate. 1 in 81 Black adults is in state prison.
The Sentencing Project, 'The Color of Justice' (most recent edition). sentencingproject.org.
Jail incarceration rate: Black 552 per 100,000 vs. white 155 per 100,000 — 3.6x the rate.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, midyear 2023. bjs.gov.
Black males receive sentences approximately 4.7% longer than white males for similar federal offenses and are 23.4% less likely to receive probation.
U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2023. ussc.gov 2023 Demographic Differences in Federal Sentencing.
Black youth are 5.6x as likely as white youth to be held in juvenile facilities — an all-time high disparity.
The Sentencing Project, 'Black Disparities in Youth Incarceration.' sentencingproject.org.
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Police killed Black people at nearly 3x the white rate in 2025. Black Americans (~12% of the US population) accounted for approximately 26% of police killings.
Mapping Police Violence / Campaign Zero, 2025 data. mappingpoliceviolence.us. Tracker figures vary by source; this figure reflects Mapping Police Violence's methodology specifically.
Median white household wealth: $284,310 vs. Black: $44,100 (6.5x ratio; for every $100 in white wealth, Black households hold ~$15).
Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, 2022 (most recent). federalreserve.gov.
Black homeownership rate: 44.3% vs. white: 73.1% — a gap wider than when the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968.
Urban Institute, 2022. urban.org.
EEOC racial-discrimination charges rose from 27,505 in FY 2023 to 30,270 in FY 2024 — a 10% increase. Race was the basis of 34.2% of all charges.
EEOC, FY 2024 data. eeoc.gov. EEOC received 88,531 total charges in FY 2024.
Black enrollment at Harvard fell from 18% (Class of 2027) to 11.5% (Class of 2029) post-SFFA. Of 29 elite institutions, only 2 reported Black enrollment ≥10% in fall 2025.
The Harvard Crimson (October 23, 2025); Brookings Institution and ACE post-SFFA analysis.
Black maternal mortality rate (2023): 50.3 per 100,000 live births — 3.5x the white rate (14.5). The Black rate was the ONLY group that INCREASED from 2022 to 2023.
CDC/NCHS, Donna L. Hoyert, 'Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023,' NCHS Health E-Stat 100, February 2025. doi:10.15620/cdc/174577.
Black median household income: $52,860 vs. national median: $74,580 (2022).
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey. census.gov.
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At Northeastern Law
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY — BLACK HISTORY MONTH ASSETS
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ)
Dockser Hall #120, 360 Huntington Ave Founded 2007 by University Distinguished Professor Margaret Burnham. Co-directed by Burnham and Prof. Rose Zoltek-Jick. Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive (): 1,150+ documented racial homicide case files, Jim Crow South 1930–1970 (Version 2 total, adding 290 victims and 5,000+ documents); expanded to Maryland, DC, Kentucky, West Virginia. Burnham's book: By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners (W.W. Norton, 2022). Current: Federal Reparations Project (launched Feb. 2025, 'Towards Justice' conference). Student engagement: CRRJ Clinic (6 credits); seminars including 'Race, Police Violence, and the Law.' HBCU partnership: CRRJ has supported a partner clinic at Southern University Law Center (Baton Rouge, HBCU) since 2014 and similar clinics in Kentucky and Louisiana.
Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR)
law. Established November 2021. Faculty Co-Directors: Prof. Margaret Burnham () and Prof. Deborah Ramirez () Managing Director: Dr. Deborah A. Jackson Houses CRRJ and the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF).
Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) — inside CLEAR
Led and founded by Prof. Deborah Ramirez. Focus: bail reform, reentry, juvenile justice, and police accountability. Ramirez is a nationally recognized criminal-justice and racial-profiling expert; former AUSA (Boston); co-author of DOJ racial-profiling data-collection resource guides; frequent congressional witness.
Center on Crime, Race, and Justice (CRJ) — formerly Institute on Race and Justice (IRJ)
Renamed from the Institute on Race and Justice; now the Center on Crime, Race, and Justice, based at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Bridges NUSL and SCCJ. Six research labs including the Violence and Justice Research Lab and Race and Justice Lab.
Show 4 more resources
Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board (federal body — NUSL connection)
Prof. Burnham was Senate-confirmed to the Board on February 17, 2022 (alongside Brenda Stevenson, Gabrielle Dudley, and Hank Klibanoff). Established by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 — reviews and releases government files on racially motivated killings ~1940–1979. Burnham's Board service directly feeds the CRRJ archive.
NUSL BLSA — Kemet Chapter
@nusl_blsa law. CONFIRMED ACTIVE; 2025–26 theme: 'Connectivity.' Affiliated with the Northeast region (NEBLSA, ), which hosts an annual regional convention. BLSA chapters nationally run "BLSA Week" programming in February — NUSL's BLSA chapter is a natural co-programming partner.
John D. O'Bryant African American Institute
jdoaai.sites.northeastern.edu Director: Dr. Richard L. O'Bryant (also NU's Chief Inclusion & Belonging Officer; director since 2007; son of the institute's namesake, John D. O'Bryant, the first Black member of the Boston School Committee since Reconstruction). Founded 1968 after Dr. King's assassination. Scholarships, Graduate Fellowship Program, mentoring, cultural programming, active February BHM events. The natural NEU university-wide hub for BHM programming that FlexJD SBA can amplify.
Other NUSL racial-justice student orgs
APALSA; LALSA; MESALSA; Law Students for Indigenous Liberation; Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic (student-staffed). Contact through NUSL Engage platform.
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The legal framework
LANDMARK LEGAL HISTORY — BLACK AMERICA AND THE LAW
1857 — Dred Scott v. Sandford
Chief Justice Taney: enslaved and free Black people are not citizens and have 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect.' Catalyzed the Civil War. Repudiated by the Reconstruction Amendments.
1865 — 13th Amendment
Abolished slavery 'except as a punishment for crime' — the exception connecting slavery to mass incarceration today and a live constitutional argument in prison-labor cases.
1868 — 14th Amendment
Citizenship; Equal Protection; Due Process. The constitutional engine of virtually all civil rights litigation for the next 158 years — and counting.
1870 — 15th Amendment
Prohibits denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The constitutional basis of the Voting Rights Act and the subject of Callais.
1896 — Plessy v. Ferguson
Upheld 'separate but equal.' Justice Harlan's lone dissent — 'Our Constitution is color-blind' — is now invoked by both sides. Controlled law for 58 years.
1909 — NAACP founded
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was co-founded by Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Moorfield Storey, and others after the 1908 Springfield, IL race riot. From the beginning, its strategy was legal.
1925 — National Bar Association founded
August 1, 1925, Des Moines, Iowa — 12 Black lawyers including Gertrude E. Rush (the only woman co-founder), George H. Woodson, S. Joe Brown, James B. Morris, and Charles P. Howard Sr. — founded the NBA after being denied ABA membership. Rush became the first Black woman licensed to practice law in Iowa.
1938 — Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada
First SCOTUS win for the 'equal in equal protection' litigation strategy developed by Charles Hamilton Houston — requiring Missouri to admit Lloyd Gaines to its law school or build a separate equal facility.
1954/1955 — Brown v. Board of Education I & II
Overruled Plessy in public education: 'separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.' Argued by Thurgood Marshall. Brown II ordered desegregation 'with all deliberate speed' — which is still being litigated in some districts. The single most significant Supreme Court decision of the 20th century.
1964 — Civil Rights Act
Title VI: no discrimination in federally funded programs. Title VII: no discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Still the operative federal employment discrimination statute.
1965 — Voting Rights Act
Section 2 (nationwide ban on discriminatory voting practices) and Section 5 (preclearance for covered jurisdictions). Passed after Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, Selma, Alabama. The subject of 60 years of litigation and three Supreme Court decisions that have progressively gutted it.
1968 — Fair Housing Act
Passed one week after Dr. King's assassination. See the April campaign page for full treatment.
1971 — Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
Unanimous SCOTUS: Title VII prohibits employer practices that are 'fair in form, but discriminatory in operation' — the disparate-impact doctrine. Required business necessity for facially neutral standards that disproportionately screen out Black workers. Later narrowed by Wards Cove (1989) and codified in the 1991 CRA.
1987 — McCleskey v. Kemp
Rejected the Baldus Study's statistical evidence that Black defendants were significantly more likely to receive the death penalty for killing white victims. The majority held that statistical disparity is insufficient; a defendant must show intentional discrimination in their individual case. Widely criticized as one of the Court's worst modern decisions. Still controls capital punishment jurisprudence.
1993 — Shaw v. Reno
First racial gerrymandering challenge: allowed Equal Protection claims against majority-minority districts whose shape suggests racial considerations predominated. The doctrinal seed that eventually grew into Callais.
2003 — Grutter v. Bollinger
5-4: upheld holistic law-school admissions using race as one factor; Justice O'Connor predicted race-conscious admissions would be unnecessary in 25 years. That timeline was cut short.
2013 — Shelby County v. Holder (570 U.S. 529)
5-4, Roberts: Struck Section 4(b)'s coverage formula, rendering Section 5 preclearance inoperable. Ginsburg dissent: 'Throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.' Congress has not enacted a new formula.
2021 — Brnovich v. DNC
6-3: Narrowed the framework for Section 2 vote-denial claims. Kagan dissent: 'What is tragic here is that the Court has (yet again) rewritten — in order to weaken — a statute that stands as a monument to America's greatness.'
2023 — SFFA v. Harvard (600 U.S. 181)
6-2/6-3, Roberts: Ended race-conscious admissions. Harvard's Black first-year share: 18% (Class of 2027) → 14% (Class of 2028) → 11.5% (Class of 2029). At 29 elite institutions reporting fall 2025 data, only two still had Black enrollment ≥10%; 11 reported ≤5%.
2025 — Ames v. Ohio (June 5, 2025)
9-0, Jackson, J.: Majority-group ('reverse discrimination') plaintiffs face no heightened 'background circumstances' standard under Title VII. Expected to fuel challenges to corporate DEI programs. Thomas concurrence (joined by Gorsuch) would go further.
★ 2026 — Louisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026)
6-3, Alito, J.: Struck down Louisiana's two majority-Black congressional districts. LDF: 'gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in all but name.' Key holdings: (1) illustrative maps must satisfy ALL of a state's political goals; (2) plaintiffs must control for partisanship; (3) 'strong evidence of present-day intentional racial discrimination' required. Cascade: Alabama's discriminatory map restored June 2, 2026; Tennessee and Florida redrew maps within days. Justice Kagan dissent: Section 2 is 'all but a dead letter.' Justice Jackson dissented from the expedited-judgment order, accusing the majority of 'diving into the fray' of active elections.
VOTING RIGHTS — THE ARC COMPLETES
Louisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026)
See Section 2 for full holding. The single most legally significant BHM development for February 2027. LDF vowed to 'demand new legislation.' The ACLU, Brennan Center, and Lawyers' Committee all condemned the ruling and are pivoting to state courts and legislation.
Allen v. Milligan — post-Callais remand (2026)
On May 11, 2026 SCOTUS vacated the district court's 2025 intentional-discrimination finding (which had invalidated Alabama's 2023 map) and remanded in light of Callais. On May 26, 2026 the district court reinstated its injunction; SCOTUS stayed that on June 2, 2026 (Sotomayor dissenting, joined by Kagan and Jackson) — restoring Alabama's 2023 plan for the 2026 elections.
John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (2025)
Reintroduced in the House by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) on March 5, 2025 (the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday) as H.R. 14; in the Senate by Sens. Durbin and Warnock on July 29, 2025. Would restore preclearance and respond to Shelby and Brnovich. Status: pending in committee; no Republican support; unlikely to pass the current Congress.
What remains after Shelby + Brnovich + Callais
Section 2 still exists on paper for intentional-discrimination claims. The 14th and 15th Amendments remain. State constitutions and state courts are now the principal battleground for voting rights protection in jurisdictions without federal preclearance.
DEI ROLLBACK AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
SFFA v. Harvard (2023) aftermath
Harvard Black first-year share: 18% (Class of 2027) → 14% (Class of 2028) → 11.5% (Class of 2029). Princeton 9%→5%; Amherst 11%→6%. Of 29 elite institutions reporting fall 2025 data, only 2 had Black enrollment ≥10%; 11 reported ≤5%. ABA data shows law-school racial diversity did not decline in 2024.
Executive Orders 14151 + 14173 (January 20–21, 2025)
EO 14151: ended federal DEI programs. EO 14173: revoked EO 11246 (affirmative action for federal contractors, the 1965 LBJ order). DOE Feb. 14, 2025 'Dear Colleague' letter permanently vacated. EOs targeted law firms by name; EEOC sent information demands to 20 firms. March 2026 EO extended anti-DEI certification requirements to federal contractors.
Ames v. Ohio (June 5, 2025) — unanimous
9-0, Jackson, J.: Majority-group plaintiffs face no heightened standard under Title VII. Expected to fuel reverse-discrimination suits challenging DEI. Thomas concurrence would go further.
HBCU funding (September 2025)
Trump redirected ~$435M to HBCUs on Sept. 15, 2025 (bringing FY2025 HBCU funding above $1.34 billion, +48.4% YoY) — while simultaneously cutting ~$350M for other minority-serving institutions.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND REPARATIONS
H.R. 40 — Reparations Commission (reintroduced 2025)
Reintroduced by Rep. Pressley (D-MA) and Sen. Booker (D-NJ) on January 3, 2025 (formally announced February 12, 2025, BHM). Would create a federal commission to study slavery's legacies and recommend remedies including a formal apology and compensation. ~99 Democratic co-sponsors; referred to Judiciary; not advancing in current Congress.
CRRJ Federal Reparations Project — NUSL
The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project launched a Federal Reparations: Lynching and Racial Violence Project at a February 27–28, 2025 conference ('Towards Justice') at Mills College at Northeastern. NUSL is not just watching — it is doing the reparations research.
First Step Act (2018) — implementation
Remains in force. 18,084 people were released from federal custody in calendar year 2024 after applying FSA time credits (U.S. Sentencing Commission, updated March 16, 2026). BOP Director Marshall directed 'full implementation' on June 17, 2025.
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
Reintroduced H.R. 5361 (September 2025): bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases, ends qualified immunity for officers, creates a National Police Misconduct Registry, curbs racial profiling. Not enacted.
McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) — still controlling
Still the controlling standard for statistical challenges to racial disparity in capital sentencing: a defendant must show intentional discrimination in their individual case, not merely statistical patterns. The Baldus Study's finding — that Black defendants were 4.3x more likely to receive the death penalty for killing white victims — was insufficient.
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Organizations & resources
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS — LEGAL HISTORY, ADVOCACY, AND CAREER
NAACP — National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
President CEO: Derrick Johnson (19th; since Oct. 2017; JD South Texas College of Law) Founded 1909 by Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Moorfield Storey, and others. The oldest and largest civil rights membership organization in the US. BHM programming; voter registration; anti-DEI rollback advocacy. Fully separate from the LDF (since 1957).
NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF)
President Director-Counsel: Janai Nelson (8th, since March 2022) Director of Litigation: Deuel Ross Founded 1940 by Thurgood Marshall. Fully independent of the NAACP since 1957. Leads the principal VRA litigation (Milligan, Callais). Current priority: demanding new voting-rights legislation post-Callais. ★ MARSHALL-MOTLEY SCHOLARS PROGRAM (): Full law-school scholarship + living stipend + paid summer internships + bar fees + two-year postgraduate fellowship. For aspiring civil rights lawyers committed to working in the South for 8 years. The single most important scholarship fellowship for law students pursuing racial justice careers.
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
President Executive Director: Damon T. Hewitt Deputy ED: Shaylyn Cochran Founded 1963 at JFK's request. Current priorities: Election Protection (1-866-OUR-VOTE); AI Civil Rights Act (reintroduced Dec. 2, 2025); educational equity; anti-DEI rollback challenges. Pro bono mobilization network.
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
Founder Executive Director: Bryan Stevenson Community Remembrance Project: 80+ historical markers; soil from ~700 lynching sites; Race and Justice Essay Contest (900+ students). Legacy Sites: Legacy Museum + National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, AL, April 26, 2018); Freedom Monument Sculpture Park (Elmore County, AL, March 27, 2024; inscribed with 122,000 surnames from the 1870 Census). ★ EJI LEGAL FELLOWSHIP: Fully funded 2-year post-graduate fellowship. Fall 2027 cycle applications: August 3–November 6, 2026 ( employment legal-fellowship). Summer internships also available.
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National Bar Association (NBA)
President: Ashley L. Upkins (83rd; first woman from Tennessee to hold the role) Founded August 1, 1925 by 12 Black lawyers including Gertrude E. Rush; ~67,000 members. 26 substantive law sections, 10 divisions, 12 regions. Young Lawyers Division; law-student division; annual convention.
National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA)
Founded 1968 at NYU by A.J. Cooper. 6,000+ active members; 200+ chapters; 6 regions. ★ NUSL is in NEBLSA (Northeast region): Annual regional convention. NBLSA's 58th National Convention: Portland, OR, March 18–22, 2026. Resources: NBLSA scholarships; mentoring; career networking.
Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF)
Supports 55+ member HBCUs including public HBCU law schools. Has awarded $500M+ in scholarships overall; average ~$3,100 semester. Scholarships; fellowships; Career Pathways Program.
African American Policy Forum (AAPF)
Co-founded by Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw. Publishes intersectionality scholarship; runs #SayHerName (centering Black women killed by police); Black Girls Matter. Free educational resources.
Brennan Center for Justice
NYU Law affiliate. Filed amicus in Callais. Focus areas: voting rights, democracy, criminal justice reform, racial justice. Free research reports and toolkits.
The Sentencing Project
Key reports: 'The Color of Justice' (racial disparities in incarceration); 'One in Five' (life sentences). Free data downloads and reports.
Prison Policy Initiative
Mass-incarceration data; racial disparity analysis; state-by-state profiles. Free.
Vera Institute of Justice
Research and advocacy on incarceration and racial justice. State-level incarceration data; immigration detention; money bail reform.
Color of Change
Largest online racial justice organization. Campaigns on criminal justice, media representation, corporate accountability.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Coalition of 230+ national human and civil rights organizations. BHM programming; legislative scorecards; voting rights.
ACLU Racial Justice Program
Voting rights; criminal justice; affirmative action; police reform. Free Know Your Rights resources.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
Internships; fellowships; Congressional Roundtables; legislative briefings for law students. Annual Legislative Conference in September.
Children's Defense Fund
Marian Wright Edelman legacy. Focus on child poverty, education, health — disproportionately affecting Black children. Beat the Odds Scholarship Program.
Advancement Project
Education equity, mass incarceration alternatives, voting rights.
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Economic justice litigation; racial and class-based economic disparities.
Equal Justice Society
Scholarship and advocacy on unconscious bias in the courts.
National Fair Housing Alliance
Racial housing discrimination; 32,321 complaints filed in 2024 (see April campaign).
National Black Justice Coalition
Black LGBTQ+ advocacy; civil rights at the intersection of race and sexual orientation gender identity.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
First intercollegiate Black fraternity (Cornell, 1906); co-founded by law students; civil rights legacy; scholarship programs.
FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND RACIAL JUSTICE CAREER PATHWAYS
★ LDF Marshall-Motley Scholars Program
Full law-school scholarship + living stipend + paid summer internships + bar fees + 2-year postgraduate fellowship. Commitment: work in the South for 8 years post-graduation. The flagship pathway to civil rights litigation careers.
EJI Legal Fellowship
Fully funded 2-year post-graduate fellowship. Fall 2027 cycle: applications open August 3, 2026 and close November 6, 2026.
NBLSA Scholarships
Multiple annual scholarships for Black law students. Check the NBLSA scholarship portal.
NBA Scholarships
Annual scholarships for law students through the National Bar Association.
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Thurgood Marshall College Fund
~$3,100 semester avg scholarship; Career Pathways Program for HBCU-affiliated and other eligible students.
ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship
Specifically for law students from racial ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in the profession.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Internships
Legislative internships; annual CBC Foundation Fellows Program.
Dechert Impact Fellowship
Places new graduates with civil rights organizations; funded fellowship.
Career paths in racial justice law
Civil rights litigation (LDF, Lawyers' Committee, ACLU); public defense (racial bias in criminal justice); voting rights redistricting (Brennan Center, Campaign Legal Center, LDF); historical redress (CRRJ-model clinics); criminal justice policy (Sentencing Project, Vera, Prison Policy Initiative); fair housing (NFHA, GBLS); reparations advocacy; Title VII and employment discrimination; environmental justice.
NUSL-specific pathways
CRRJ Clinic (6 credits, active case work); CLEAR CJTF (policy research); Student Volunteers for Justice through CPIAC (law.); PAIR Project (immigration for survivors); GBLS internships ().
06
Key facts & framing
BLACK LAWYERS, JUDGES, AND ADVOCATES EVERY LAW STUDENT SHOULD KNOW
Charles Hamilton Houston (1895–1950)
Howard Law dean and 'the man who killed Jim Crow.' He designed the NAACP's legal strategy that dismantled Plessy case by case — from Missouri ex rel. Gaines (1938) to Sweatt v. Painter to Shelley v. Kraemer. He died five years before Brown was decided, but Brown was his plan. Thurgood Marshall called him 'the Moses of that journey.'
Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993)
Argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won 29 — including Brown v. Board of Education. First Black U.S. Solicitor General (1965–1967). First Black Supreme Court Justice (1967–1991). Founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005)
First Black woman appointed to the federal bench (S.D.N.Y., 1966). First Black woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court (1961). As an LDF litigator, argued 10 cases before SCOTUS and won 9, including desegregation cases in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Represented Martin Luther King Jr.
Jane Bolin (1908–2007)
First Black female judge in the United States — appointed to the New York City Domestic Relations Court in 1939 by Mayor LaGuardia. First Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School (1931). Served on the court for 40 years.
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Gertrude E. Rush (1880–1962)
Co-founder and first president of the National Bar Association (1925). First Black woman licensed to practice law in Iowa (1918). The NBA's Gertrude Rush Award is named in her honor.
Kimberlé Crenshaw (b. 1959)
Columbia/UCLA law professor who coined 'intersectionality' (1989) — the framework for understanding how overlapping identities (race, gender, class) compound discrimination. Co-founder of the African American Policy Forum (AAPF); creator of #SayHerName. Her intersectionality framework is now cited in legal decisions worldwide.
Bryan Stevenson (b. 1959)
Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI, 1989). Author of Just Mercy (2014). Argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Received the American Bar Association's highest honor (2018 Thurgood Marshall Award). Created the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum (both 2018, Montgomery, AL) and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park (March 27, 2024).
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (b. 1970)
First Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court (confirmed April 7, 2022). Harvard AB 1992, Harvard Law 1996. Former Public Defender. As of June 2026, the Court's most frequent dissenter — including solo dissents in Trump v. CASA (birthright-citizenship injunctions), Chiles v. Salazar (conversion therapy), and a separate dissent from the Callais expedited-judgment order.
Janai Nelson
8th President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (since March 2022). First Black woman to hold the title President. Former Associate Director-Counsel at LDF. In response to Callais: 'We will demand new legislation.' LDF is the principal litigant in the Milligan and Callais redistricting cases.
Sherrilyn Ifill
Former LDF President and Director-Counsel (2013–2022). Now Visiting Professor at Howard Law and affiliated with Columbia Law. One of the most prominent voices on civil rights and the judiciary.
Derrick Johnson
NAACP President and CEO (19th; since October 2017). JD, South Texas College of Law. In response to the DEI rollback and Callais: 'The DOJ civil rights division — the crown jewel — has been redirected to reverse discrimination.' naacp.org.
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Content calendar
28-DAY CONTENT CALENDAR — FEBRUARY 2027
Week 4 (Feb. 22–28) — Resources and Careers
Day 22: LDF Marshall-Motley Scholars — 'A full ride for civil rights lawyers. Applications open now.' / Day 23: EJI Legal Fellowship — 'Two funded years. Applications open August 3, 2026.' / Day 24: NBLSA and NEBLSA — 'Your professional community starts here.' / Day 25: NBA (nationalbar.org) — 'The bar association founded because the ABA wouldn't let Black lawyers in.' / Day 26: Career paths in racial justice law — litigation, policy, history, housing, education. / Day 27: NUSL CRRJ + CLEAR — 'The racial justice legal work happening at your law school.' / Day 28: Close — 'From Dred Scott to Callais. The arc is not over. You are the next chapter.'
Hashtags
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM2027 #BlackLegalHistory #BlackExcellenceInLaw #FromDredScottToCallais #VotingRights #RacialJustice #NUSLPublicInterest #CRRJ #BLSA #NBLSA
FlexJD remote-specific notes
Schedule all live events no later than early afternoon ET (targeting late morning Honolulu Time, HT = ET – 5h in February). Post all recordings within 24 hours. Build a shared resource hub with links to all scholarship portals, webinar registrations, and readings. The Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive is a ready-made daily content engine — each case file is a story.
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Source and freshness status
Controlling primary authorities
Needs primary-source review before quotation or reliance
Advocacy-group estimates of incarceration, wealth, policing, housing complaints, or voter impact; biographical superlatives and quotation counts; current organization leadership; scholarship values, eligibility, opening dates, and deadlines; and all February 2027 event claims not yet published by their sponsors. The organizations remain linked as research, service, membership, and action resources.
Reviewed
August 20, 2026. For case holdings, read the official opinion and docket rather than a campaign summary.