The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
As legal attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives rise, Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman provided insights on the decisions of companies like Costco in continuing their diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in article by Marketplace. Chatman is an associate professor a Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law specializing in the fields of corporate law,…
The conversations around reparations for the descendants of African slaves in America continues as the racial wealth gap widens. Cook Center Director William A. Darity Jr. joins the Charlotte Talks radio show with Mike Collins to further discuss findings from The Black Reparations Project: A Handbook for Racial Justice. Listen to the conversation here: The…
Arko Dasgupta is a PhD candidate in History at Carnegie Mellon University and a doctoral fellow in the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. He studies Modern India, the British Empire, early Indian immigration in the United States, and the American Civil Rights Movement. Recently, he presented a component of his…
Founding Director William Darity Jr. co-authored a new literature review in The BMJ that directly addresses one of the most persistent critiques of reparations: the claim that no feasible plan exists. The proposal outlines direct monetary payments as the clearest economic measure of the cumulative and intergenerational effects of white supremacy. The article argues that…
Cook Center Director William A. Darity Jr. will be among the featured speakers at an upcoming public hearing hosted by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (NYSCCRR) on Saturday, March 21st, 2026, in Staten Island, New York. The hearing, titled “Economic Development: Quantifying Harms,” is part of the Commission’s statewide effort to…
New research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Sarah Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how something as routine as demographic forms can influence feelings of inclusion and identity among marginalized communities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the study—“Enumeration or Exclusion? Demographic Forms and Latine Identity”—investigates how demographic questions may…
