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.
In the summer of 2020, WUNC launched a special coverage series titled “Calling for Change.” The series highlighted the voices of Black activists and leaders advocating for racial equity in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the widespread protests that followed. Five years later, WUNC revisited several of those voices to reflect on what…
Nancy MacLean, Cook Center faculty affiliate and William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, was recently quoted in a major DeSmog investigation revealing ties between current cabinet members and the organizations behind Project 2025. The DeSmog report found that 70 percent of Trump’s cabinet has direct ties to groups affiliated…
Faculty Affiliate Sarah E. Gaither co-authored a paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology titled, “Cross-cultural perceptions of racial ambiguity: Testing the universality of the ingroup overexclusion effect”. Dr. Gaither is the Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. Dr. Gaither an her…
Founding Director William A. Darity Jr. was interviewed for a Forbes Talk by Ali Jackson-Jolley to discuss what economic freedom looks like in 2026. Dr. Darity is one of the leading voices in academia advancing the case for Black reparations in the U.S. He co-authored From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the…
A recent feature highlighted how Kisha N. Daniels, associate professor of the practice in education, continues to expand the reach of her service‑learning course, The Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop, through community‑centered partnerships with Durham Public Schools. The story follows a semester‑long collaboration between Daniels’ Duke students and 11th graders at Jordan High School, culminating…
A study coauthored by faculty affiliates Joaquin Alfredo‑Angel Rubalcaba and Alberto Ortega explore the effectiveness of worker‑driven social responsibility programs on infant health outcomes in migrant farmworker communities. Published in Demography, the research examines whether the Fair Food Program, a worker‑rights initiative supported by corporate premiums, has had measurable health impacts on the communities it…
