Civil Rights

The original "freedom schools" offered a free, progressive education to Black students in the Civil Rights era-South. At Harvard, HDS alum Najha Zigbi-Johnson and Lesedi Graveline, MTS '21, reimagine what an Ivy League education could look like.

HDS Professor Jonathan Walton will co-teach a new class this semester, "Martin Luther King Jr. and the Question of Conscientious Citizenship."

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 90 this year. While his name and his contribution to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement are revered, some wonder if Dr. King’s legacy is in jeopardy amid a resurgence of racism, xenophobia, and hate...

"Campaign ads that stoke fear about trans people in bathrooms pose a far greater threat to our lives than trans people pose to anyone with whom we share a public accommodation," writes MTS candidate Sam Ames.

On the morning of Aug. 20, 1965, the fates of Ruby Sales, a 17-year-old black activist from Georgia, and Jonathan Daniels, a white Episcopalian seminarian from New Hampshire, crossed in the struggle against segregation in the South. That day, Daniels gave...

Professor Cornel West discusses James Baldwin’s unpopularity, and his nagging truth-telling habit that alienated him, in later years, from the white liberal media professional who first popularized his work, as well as from the radical black nationalists.

Professor Dan McKanan discusses how a quote by Boston abolitionist Theodore Parker ended up in a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—and on the floor of the Oval Office.

Kim Davis, clerk of Kentucky's Rowan County, inspired passionate responses from all quarters recently when she refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Many in her community see Davis as a civil rights crusader, standing up for religious...

Professor Gary Dorrien delivers the 2015 Lentz Lecture. An Episcopal priest, Professor Dorrien is the author of 16 books and approximately 275 articles that range from ethics, social theory, and theology, to philosophy, politics, and history. He is a...

HDS professor Harvey Cox reflects on his friendship with the Civil Rights leader and his lasting legacy.