Harvard Kennedy School has appointed to its senior faculty, Cornell William Brooks, the former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
As a professor, Brooks — who is also a civil rights lawyer — will advise students, teach classes and launch and direct the William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice at the school’s Center for Public Leadership. A fourth-generation ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he also will also be a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School.
The school’s dean, Dr. Douglas Elmendorf, said they are delighted that Brooks “will bring his unique background in civil rights law, policy and activism to the Kennedy School.
“The William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice will be a focal point for students and faculty from across Harvard University who are interested in teaching, research and achieving excellence in the practice of social justice. Under Cornell’s guidance — and drawing upon his experience and knowledge — we expect the collaborative to have a transformational impact on our ability to prepare students to be leaders in public service and social justice.”
The Trotter Social Justice Collaborative is intended to promote excellence in the practice of social justice by supporting applied research and the use of evidence in advocacy and activism. The collaborative will connect faculty, students, scholars, practitioners, nonprofit institutions and institutions of faith; provide research and field-based learning opportunities to faculty and students; and equipping leaders of local and national organizations with ideas, policy expertise and best practices to maximize their impact on social justice.
The collaborative honors the legacy of Trotter, the first African-American Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, founder of the Niagara Movement, founding influence of the NAACP and a pioneering activist.
“When we think of great public leaders of the past — people like Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Eugene Debs, Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — many of them are great because they made society uncomfortable with injustices that had been taken for granted,” said Brooks. “They then organized and advocated to make society more just.”
