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Tuskegee, Ala. - Tuskegee University, the historic Alabama HBCU established by Booker T. Washington, has partnered with Auburn University to open the Alabama Center for Reparative Justice. The center aims to “tangibly and meaningfully address the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow” in the state.
The Alabama Center for Reparative Justice will research Jim Crow laws, slavery and the after effects both had on the state. Auburn University will cover the center’s operating costs while the center will be located on the Tuskegee University campus.
Auburn graduate Cameron Humphrey said this is an exciting move in the right direction. “The first step for Auburn was to acknowledge its own complicity in regard to Black oppression. This is step 2 - taking inclusive, tangible, and fundamental action towards not only restoring justice, but transforming justice in the state of Alabama,” said Humphrey.
Tuskegee alumna Kayla Foy said, “The program sounds like a great collaborative effort to gain insight from both experiences, and to open dialogue for effective change.” She hopes this partnership will lead to a collaboration between Tuskegee and Auburn Universities to address food deserts. “Both universities have phenomenal agricultural programs, but Auburn has the land and the capital that could immediately help the students and residents of Tuskegee.”
The Alabama Center for Reparative Justice intends to partner with nonprofit organizations and co-op programs that share a similar mission. The project will work to highlight inequities in pay, education and the prison system through both a local and statewide lens.