Civil Rights Project

About this grant

Harvard University created the Civil Rights Project to mobilize the resources of the university and broader academic community to promote racial and ethnic justice. Through conferences, training and published research, the project works to raise the level of discussion on targeted issues and to reframe the tone and content of current legal and political debates. In 2003, the project hosted the Color Lines Conference: Segregation and Integration in America’s Present and Future.Funding will enable the project to publish “21st Century Color Lines: Exploring the Frontier of America’s Multicultural Future.” The book will expand on the issues addressed at the conference and contribute to the goal of advancing public policies that lead to more equitable outcomes and greater opportunities for all members of society. In addition, an article on the future of integration will be published.Project accomplishments during the past seven years included convening leaders from various communities to consider civil rights implications of controversial issues; producing scholarship to fill critical knowledge gaps in key policy debates; and disseminating the research to numerous constituencies, including community-based civil rights advocates, lawyers, state legislators, Congress and the media.