The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School (CHHIRJ) was launched in September 2005 by internationally known legal scholar, litigator and activist, Charles Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. The Institute honors and continues the unfinished work of Charles Hamilton Houston, one of the 20th century’s most brilliant legal scholars and litigators. Houston engineered the multi-year legal strategy that led to the unanimous Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. Board of Education, on May 17, 1954, repudiating the doctrine of “separate but equal” schools for black and white children. The strategy that Houston and his fellow lawyers used to argue the case had been meticulously developed over many years, largely by a cadre of legal minds assembled at Howard Law School, where Houston served as vice-Dean. Sadly, however, he died in 1950, at the age of 54, before he could witness his tireless efforts coming to fruition.

More than half a century after Charles Hamilton Houston’s death, huge roadblocks still stand in the way of full, equal citizenship for far too many people of color in this country. After much initial progress following the Brown decision and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, people of color still lag behind their white peers on many key indicators of educational and economic opportunity and social mobility. African Americans and Latinos, especially, are under-represented in our nation’s universities, board rooms, halls of government and law firms. They are over-represented among high school dropouts, the unemployed, and the incarcerated.

We believe that lingering racial inequalities in our nation result from a complex web of factors. They include a troubled history of intentional discrimination, disenfranchisement and segregation that endures today in pockets across the country. Research also suggests that unacknowledged, unaddressed, even unconscious racial bias persists and, like its more overt forms, infects our legal and social structures, systems and institutions. These complex and often invisible forces produce unjust and unequal outcomes, even when policymakers enact ostensibly race-neutral policies and laws and profess their desire for a colorblind society.

The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute marshals the resources of Harvard and beyond to advance Houston’s dreams for a more equitable and just society. It brings together students, faculty, practitioners, civil rights and business leaders, community advocates, litigators, and policymakers in a variety of forums, conferences and meetings. Participants present new scholarship, debate legal and policy strategies, and craft new solutions that can be widely adopted. Scholarship that emerges from the Institute is incorporated into the teaching and training of the next generation of legal scholars and advocates. This model ensures that the worlds of research and practice will be continually linked, a strategy that represented such a critical part of Houston’s vision for reform.

The Institute is initially focusing on three areas that we consider central to the struggle for racial justice: closing the racial achievement gap, reforming criminal justice policies, and improving prospects for people of color and foreign-born residents to enjoy the full benefits of citizenship in this country. Other issues we intend to address include racial disparities in access to quality health care, voting rights, immigration reform, housing discrimination and regional equity, and creating greater alignment between equal opportunity agendas of African Americans and Latinos.

The Houston Institute and Professor Ogletree enjoy the enthusiastic support of Dean Elena Kagan of Harvard Law School and key leadership within Harvard University. However, like all institutes affiliated with Harvard, it is responsible for raising independently the funds necessary for its operations and success.