Margaret Burnham
Paul Robeson and the Rise and Fall of Freedom
Hounded by McCarthy, Robeson found himself with his passport withdrawn and severely restricted opportunities to perform. He moved to Harlem and founded Freedom, a newspaper published monthly from 1950 to 1955, dedicated to African-American issues. It was during its run a leading voice of the African American Left. In this talk, we will look at the context of the origins and audience, influence and ultimate closure, of this unique contribution to African American political discussion and activism.
Margaret A. Burnham is University Distinguished Professor of Law; Director of Reparations and Restorative Justice Initiatives; Director, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project; Faculty Co-Director, Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR) at Northeastern University, School of Law. The first African American woman, in 1977, to serve in the Massachusetts judiciary, Professor Burnham’s current work focuses on the history of mid-twentieth century racial violence in the United States, with her critically acclaimed and highly awarded book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners (2022). Professor Burnham served on a precursor commission to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, held fellowships at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College and Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Studies, and in 2016 won a prestigious Carnegie Fellowship, which she put towards furthering the work of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, which seeks justice for the crimes of the civil rights era. She was inducted into the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame in 2023.