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.
Core Faculty Affiliate Keisha Bentley-Edwards recently appeared on NPR’s Short Wave podcast, hosted by Emily Kong. The episode focused on KFF Health News’ Silence at Sikeston podcast series, an in-depth look at the impact of racial trauma and its implications on Black communities, as discussed by KFF Health News Midwest Correspondent Cara Anthony. Dr. Bentley-Edwards,…
The University of North Carolina Press announced a new book, With Faith in God and Heart and Mind: A History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Among the authors is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at North Carolina Central University, Jim C. Harper II. Harper is a Cook Center Faculty Affiliate and Inequality Studies Instructor, having…
Faculty Affiliate Fenaba Addo, PhD, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was recently interviewed about her work on race and policy by The Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Dr. Addo spoke about her lived experiences with student debt and the racial wealth divide, the relationship between…
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…
