Center for Racial Justice

Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people, regardless of racial background, that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone.We seek a world in which people are able to achieve their full potential in life, regardless...

Programs & events

The Center for Racial Justice hosts programs and events open to the Ford School community and the public. The Masterclass in Activism is a widely advertised event series in which the center's director will be in conversation with noted activists a...

Student engagement

The multidisciplinary approach of the Center for Racial Justice will allow students to complement their curriculum with research- and action-based opportunities to understand and address racial inequity. The center will give us the tools, res...

Visiting fellows program

The visiting fellows program will become the center’s signature initiative, offering social justice changemakers (activists, artists, advocates, and scholars) a prestigious, highly competitive award designed to recognize their transformative work and...

Publication

Immigration enforcement fears are reshaping daily life for Michigan immigrants, U-M study finds

May 19, 2026

A new report documents widespread immigration enforcement fears among immigrant Michiganders in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Ypsilanti.

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge with the words 'ICE' in the background

News

Fullerton Rico on the hidden hosts of immigration policy

Mar 19, 2026

Ford School sociologist Kristina Fullerton Rico discusses an overlooked consequence of immigration policy: how it shapes the way people experience grief.

News

Ostfeld and Stragand discuss gun violence research in Detroit and lack of institutional trust

Mar 15, 2026

The Hispanic community in Detroit is not unfamiliar to gun violence and institutional harm under immigration policies. The Ford School's Mara Ostfeld and Sam Stragand share how recent policies have impacted community trust levels for law enforcement,...

News

Will Virgin Islanders vote? Report reveals major constitutional awareness gap

Mar 10, 2026

A new report from the University of Michigan's Center for Racial Justice and the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras examines a critical disconnect in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

American Flag and United States Virgin Islands flag blowing in the wind

News

Adediran’s ‘Disclosureland’ explores the tension between corporate promises and racial progress

Feb 19, 2026

Former Center for Racial Justice visiting fellow, legal scholar, and sociologist Atinuke O. Adediran discusses her new book Disclosureland: How Corporate Words Constrain Racial Progress.

Atinuke Adediran holding a copy of her book Disclosureland

Policy Matters

Student curated programming to meet the moment

Nov 24, 2025

CRJ's Katrina Hamann recaps the the three-part "Let's Unpack That" series hosted by the Center for Racial Justice. Drawing on student feedback, the series focused on immigration policy, AI policy, and election policy.

students and community members gathered in the trotter multicultural center for unpacking immigration policy

News

New survey ahead of Sixth Constitutional Convention in the Virgin Islands

Oct 29, 2025

A new public opinion survey will be administered by University of Michigan researchers across the U.S. Virgin Islands in the weeks surrounding the territory’s Sixth Constitutional Convention.

News

Center for Racial Justice welcomes 2025-26 visiting fellows

Sep 22, 2025

The Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Ayesha B. Hardaway, and Holly Bass as visiting fellows for the 2025-26 academic year.

Holly Bass, Ayesha Hardaway, R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy

News

Ostfeld conducting research on political status in Guam

Sep 10, 2025

Since the end of World War II, the United States has rhetorically championed the principle of “self-determination.” Yet today, more than four million Americans live in U.S. territories whose homelands are excluded from most maps and remain invisible ...

News

U-M report exposes the hidden labor of families supporting formerly incarcerated women

Jun 19, 2025

A new report from the University of Michigan’s Center for Racial Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy sheds light on the essential and largely overlooked role family members play in supporting women after incarceration.

State & Hill

Spotlights, spring 2025

May 7, 2025

Dean Watkins-Hayes, at the Congressional Breakfast in DC, with Michigan in Washington undergraduates Ajay Morelli, Malinda Brunk, Rachel Ellisen, and Isaac Davis, and Riecker Fellow Hope Wang (MPP ’25).

News

Trump's 100 days in office: Ford School experts available

Apr 29, 2025

In the first 100 days of his second term, President Donald Trump has unleashed a whirlwind of policy shifts that have sent ripples across the globe. The responses to his administration's actions have ranged from applause to skepticism. Ford School fa...

Publication

Potential of grocery delivery services to increase food access in Detroit

Apr 8, 2025

New research from the University of Michigan points to potential ways to leverage grocery delivery services to improve food access in Detroit, where 32% of residents live a mile or farther from a full-service grocery store.

blurry grocery store aisle with a grocery bag full of food and hands texting in the foreground

News

Ford School to host screening of Oscar nominated documentary SUGARCANE

Mar 13, 2025

The Ford School will host a special screening of Oscar-nominated documentary SUGARCANE at the Michigan Theatre on Monday, April 14, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie. SUGARCANE follows an investigation into the ...

News

Rico comments on Trump policies' impact on immigrant communities

Feb 23, 2025

Center for Racial Justice Postdoctoral Fellow Kristina Fullerton Rico explores what she calls the dangerous implications of President Trump's deportation policy in an essay in The Conversation. Citing extensive social science research on U.S. immigr...

News

Government suspicion, conspiratorial thinking linked to historical harm in 3 Michigan communities, U-M report finds

Feb 20, 2025

More than half of residents surveyed in three Michigan communities believe significant events occur without public knowledge—a sentiment of government suspicion closely tied to conspiratorial thinking, according to a University of Michigan policy bri...

News

Exciting events at the Ford School this January

Jan 10, 2025

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for our January 2025 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise note...

News

Detroit’s reparations task force's slow pace is not a bad thing - Ostfeld

Dec 20, 2024

Ford school professor Mara Ostfeld wrote with coauthors Kamri Hudgins, Erykah Noelle Benson, and Vincent Hutchings, in The Conversation about delays in the release of the Detroit Reparations Task Force report. She explains why it has been difficult f...

Publication

Talk to him: How a conversation can shape public support for women’s rights

Dec 17, 2024

A single conversation with a close family member may not change a young woman’s views on policies protecting their rights, but it can strongly influence young men’s attitudes.

Mara Ostfeld speaking at a Poverty Solutions event.

State & Hill

Spotlights, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Welcome, changemakersThe Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes its third cohort of Visiting Fellows: writer, filmmaker, and community organizer Charlene Carruthers; racial justice lawyer, historian, and organizer Amanda Alexander; ...

Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Charlene Carruthers, Amanda Alexander, Bianca D.M. Wilson, Dom Adams-Santos

News

Making it: Snapshots from the Artist Pay Project explores the financial struggles facing artists

Nov 26, 2024

Chicago-based artist and journalist Makeda Easter explores the financial challenges facing artists across disciplines in her immersive exhibition, Making it: $napshots from The Artist Pay Project, currently displayed at the University of Michigan Ros...

Makeda Easter standing in front of a sign that says making it: snapshots from the artist pay project

In the Media

Ostfeld highlights attitudes in cities with high-immigrant populations

Oct 14, 2024 Michigan Public

Speaking with Michigan Public, the Ford School's Mara Ostfeld discusses results from her recent research on public opinion in Michigan on immigration policy. Ostfeld stated, “U.S.-born residents living in cities with a higher proportion of foreign-bo...

News

Transnational grief: Adding depth to Day of the Dead

Oct 9, 2024

Restricted by immigration laws, unauthorized immigrants in the United States face severe challenges, including the inability to visit family members left behind. This "slow violence" becomes most painful during times of death, causing "transnational ...

a small group of people mourning during day of the dead

News

Center for Racial Justice welcomes 2024-25 visiting fellows

Sep 26, 2024

The Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes Amanda Alexander, Charlene Carruthers, and Bianca D.M. Wilson as Visiting Fellows for the 2024-25 academic year. The Visiting Fellows Program, a signature initiative of the Center for Racia...

Amanda Alexander, Charlene Carruthers, Bianca Wilson

Publication

Distrust in U.S. healthcare system fuels COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Sep 20, 2024

New research from the University of Michigan examines how long-standing distrust in the U.S. healthcare system has significantly impacted attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. The research is led by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean...

Headshots of Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Dom Adams-Santos

News

Racial and gender bias in U.S. crime victim compensation programs highlighted in new report

Sep 18, 2024

Significant racial and gender disparities exist in U.S. crime victim compensation programs, revealing Black and Indigenous people as well as survivors of gender-based violence face unique challenges in obtaining financial support, according to a new ...