“If a law can’t protect a person from lynching, isn’t lynching the law?” asks Margaret A. Burnham, director of Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, in her new book By Hands Now Known. At CHF, Burnham and Courtney Pierre Joseph (Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College) explain the ways America’s legal system allowed and encouraged racial violence during the Jim Crow era, how those atrocities extend into today, and what we can do to repair a broken system. 

This program is presented in partnership with Lake Forest College. As a part of the Morris & Dolores Kohl Kaplan Northwestern Day, this program is generously sponsored by The Dolores Kohl Education Foundation. The Festival's Social Justice & Equity Series is generously underwritten by The Allstate Insurance Company. This program has also been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• The Chicago Humanities Festival is pleased to partner with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, a Chicago not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. Pre-order your copy of By Hands Now Known through the CHF Box Office and save 20% while supporting local, independent bookselling. Add books to your cart when adding tickets. Your receipt will contain a book voucher, which you will show to the bookseller on site to pick up your book(s).
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