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.
Dr. William A. Darity Jr., the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Cook Center at Duke University, recently shared his insights on the New York Reparations Commission’s first meeting in an article by City Limits. Dr. Darity emphasized that while efforts like this are important, the racial wealth gap in New…
On Monday, August 5, the Cook Center celebrated its latest group of Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars with a joyous evening of student research, achievement, and praise at the Washington Duke Inn. 49 students from Durham Public Schools-across two cohorts-convened to present the research on issues of inequities in health, technology, education, labor,…
Dr. William A. Darity Jr., the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Cook Center at Duke University, shared his insights in a recent EBONY Magazine article by Delaina Dixon. The article addresses the critical importance of reparations for Black Americans in the current presidential election, alongside issues like gun control and…
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…
