Research Programs
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
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Looking back at Little Rock: At HLS, Justice Breyer and nine appellate justices revisit Cooper v. Aaron
November 1, 2012
In October, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice sponsored a two-day conference looking back at Cooper v. Aaron and the impact it’s had on law and education over the course of 55 years. The event brought together legal scholars, students, and civil-rights lawyers and featured a moot-court proceeding involving U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and nine appellate judges, to revisit the legal questions raised by Cooper.
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Harvard Law School Media Roundup: From Gun Control to the Roberts’s Court to the Arab Spring
July 26, 2012
Over the past week, a number of HLS faculty members shared their viewpoints on events in the news. Here are some excerpts.
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An array of legal scholars, judges, practitioners and community leaders gathered at Harvard Law School on June 14 to discuss implicit racial bias, its presence in society and the law and new ideas about reducing its negative impact on disadvantaged groups.
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Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s ‘State of Equity’ report to be released at HLS
December 13, 2011
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) has released a summary of “The State of Equity in Metro Boston,” a report studying the ways that inequity affects the residents of greater Boston. The full report was released on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at an event co-hosted by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.
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From a slave-owning founder to the President of the United States: A look at a legacy of complexity and progress
September 30, 2011
Harvard Law School was founded with a bequest from Isaac Royall, a brutal slave owner. Two centuries later, the first black President of the U.S. and first black First Lady are HLS alumni.
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Symposium explores legacy of the 19th century social reformer Wendell Phillips (video)
June 24, 2011
Abolitionist Wendell Phillips, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1833, was a nationally know celebrity during his lifetime. On the bicentennial of his birth, a symposium held at HLS June 2-4, cosponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, focused on the life and legacy of the social reformer, and the questions they raise for those working for social justice today.
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HLS’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute releases new report on METCO’s positive track record
June 17, 2011
Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (CHHIRJ) and the Pioneer Institute have jointly published the first comprehensive review in nearly a decade of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), the nation’s second-longest running voluntary school desegregation program.
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Ogletree in Politico: Washington walks Ugandan tightrope
April 28, 2011
"Washington walks Ugandan tightrope," an op-ed co-authored by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree and University of Richmond School of Law Professor Jonathan Stubbs LL.M. ’79, was featured in the Opinion section of the April 27 edition of Politico.
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Panelists discuss Dean Minow’s latest book "In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark" (video)
October 18, 2010
The continuing debate over Brown v. Board of Education's effects was forcefully illustrated on Tuesday, Sept. 28, by a panel discussion of Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow’s new book, “In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark,” the first in a series of events on faculty-authored books sponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and HLS.
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Ogletree in Washington Post: After Shirley Sherrod, we all need to slow down and listen
July 28, 2010
HLS Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. co-wrote an op-ed, “After Shirley Sherrod, we all need to slow down and listen,” with Johanna Wald, that appeared in the July 25, 2010, edition of the Washington Post. Ogletree is the executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and the author most recently of "The Presumptions of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class, and Crime in America." Johanna Wald is director of strategic planning at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.
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For ten of thousands of young people, childhood can consist of a pipeline to prison. On Thursday, April 29, 2010, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School hosted a conference addressing the issue locally: “Coming Together to Dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline in Massachusetts: A Half-Day Summit of Community, Faith and Policy Leaders.”
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On May 16, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Justice Anthony Kennedy ’61 wrote the opinion for a 6-3 Court, citing a brief submitted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at HLS, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
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The HLS Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice recently filed, along with a host of other organizations, an amicus curiae brief in the North Carolina Supreme Court on a school-to-prison pipeline case.
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Houston Institute event to focus on individual vs. collective responsibility in the financial crisis
August 10, 2009
On Wednesday, August 12 beginning at 11 a.m., Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice will hold an open event on Martha’s Vineyard entitled, “Striking the Right Balance: Addressing Our Individual and Collective Responsibilities to Families and Communities.”
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Ogletree: The strange jurisprudence of Justice Thomas
July 15, 2009
The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree ’78, “The strange jurisprudence of Justice Thomas,” appeared in the July 2, 2009, edition of the Bay State Banner.
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Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree ’78 testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs in June on the proposed National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009, telling the subcommittee the bill would address “severe inequities in the criminal justice system.”
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On April 15, Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice Vegas Torrealba discussed his country’s justice system during a talk entitled, “Role of Human Rights, Gender Equality, and Race in Venezuelan Law.” The event was sponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.
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Tribal sovereignty is under attack, panelists conclude at HLS conference examining the Supreme Court and federal Indian law
April 22, 2009
The future of Native American sovereignty under the Roberts Court is bleak, a panel of experts concluded at an April 6 conference examining 'Tribal Justice: The Supreme Court and the future of federal Indian law' at Harvard Law School.
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Panel marks launch of Houston commemorative stamp
February 25, 2009
On Saturday, Feb. 21, the United States Postal Service released a new commemorative stamp in honor of lawyer and noted social justice reformer Charles Hamilton Houston ’22.
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In a two-day conference sponsored by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice—titled “Charting New Pathways to Participation and Membership”—attendees from the worlds of law, labor, government, academia talked about the obstacles to justice faced by many groups and how those impediments might be overcome.
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Research with Impact
September 1, 2008
The visionaries who supported these programs can already see results Established by HLS Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. ’78 in 2005, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute…