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.
Founding Director William A. Darity Jr.’s work on reparations was highlighted in Capital B story about the possibility of mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to successfully purse reparations in New York City. Dr. Darity’s says that closing the racial wealth gap is the best measure for reparations. He estimates that New York would have to pay…
Faculty Affiliate Fenaba Addo, Associate Professor of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, participated in a webinar hosted by the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. Dr. Addo, along with two other experts, contributed insight on the impact of college loan debt across racial lines. I want to underscore that student debt is not just…
Faculty Affiliate Sandra L. Barnes, the C.V. Starr Professor of Sociology at the Brown University, continues to lead critical conversations on religion, identity, and the lived experiences of Black communities. Her recent publications explore how faith, culture, and structural factors shape well-being and belonging among young Black people with diverse sexual identities. Below are three…
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…
