Racial Justice

The words "Black Lives Matter" painted on 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Racial Justice

Grounded in its Jesuit value of faith that does justice, Georgetown University engages faculty, students, staff, and the wider community in addressing its own historical experience with slavery while also promoting racial justice.

Georgetown has sought to find ways to transform the systems and institutions that uphold inequities in health, wealth, and opportunity through research and scholarship. For example, the Racial Justice Institute (RJI), founded in 2021, is home to three research centers and pushes the frontiers of knowledge about race, equity, and action. In addition, Georgetown offers undergraduate degrees in African American Studies through the College of Arts & Sciences and coursework that focuses on the legacies of colonialism and connections between domestic and foreign racisms through the School of Foreign Service.

Select Centers, Institutes,
and Research Programs

Racial Justice InstituteGeorgetown Unit

The Racial Justice Institute at Georgetown University is a research hub where scholars, activists, and thought-leaders catalyze innovative social change across the academic, policy, and advocacy spaces. It also seeds and inspires the next generation of scholars and leaders addressing the vestiges of enslavement and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Center for the Study of Slavery and Its LegaciesGeorgetown Unit

The Center for the Study of Slavery and Its Legacies supports rigorous new scholarship and innovation in disseminating knowledge about the history of enslavement and its past and current legacies.

Select Academic Programs

The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Major in Black Studies

The Department of Black Studies sponsors this major in Black studies with concentrations in global race and ethnicity; race, space, and public policy; and creativity, design, and emerging forms.

Major in Justice and Peace Studies

The Program on Justice and Peace in the College sponsors this major for undergraduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences. Students take interdisciplinary courses and participate in innovative approaches to teaching and learning, such as social action, community engagement, and student-produced media.