Centers and Clinics
CSRRR Activities
Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations
| I. | Mission Statement |
| II. | What's Going On? |
| III. | Get Involved |
| IV. | Academic Development |
| V. | Useful Links |
| VI. | In the News |
| VII. | Staff & Affiliates |
| VII. | Contact |
2009 Spring Lecture
March 16, noon
Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, Room 180
Sherrilyn Ifill, Professor of Law, University of Maryland
"Re-Defining Civil Rights After Obama."About Professor Ifill:
Sherrilyn Ifill is a professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law where she's taught since 1993. Her courses have included Civil Procedure, Legal Writing, Constitutional Law, Voting Rights, Complex Litigation, Equal Protection, and Environmental Justice. Prior to joining the faculty at the law school, Professor Ifill served as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc. where she litigated voting rights cases, including Houston Lawyers' Association vs. Attorney General of Texas, in which the Supreme Court held that judicial elections are covered by the provisions of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Professor Ifill continued her engagement with civil rights law in Maryland where she's represented minority communities throughout the state in environmental justice cases. She co-founded the Re-entry of Ex-Offenders Law Clinic at the law school, and currently teaches a course called Reparations, Reconciliation & Restorative Justice in which her students study legal and quasi-legal responses to genocide and mass racial and ethnic violence. As part of the course, Prof. Ifill and her students provide technical assistance and legal advice to groups and individuals who are victims of, or who seek to address historic incidents of racial/ethnic violence in their communities.
Prof Ifill's 2007 book, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century, explores the continuing effects of the last two recorded lynchings in Maryland. Released to critical acclaim, On the Courthouse Lawn was a finalist for the 2008 Hurston/Wright book award for non-fiction.
Prof. Ifill's other scholarship is devoted to exploring judicial independence, judicial impartiality, judicial elections and the effect of racial diversity on judicial decisionmaking. She serves on the National Ad Hoc Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee, and has been the Reporter for the Maryland Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee. Prof. Ifill is co-chair of the Maryland Attorney General's Task Force on Voting Irregularities. She serves on the Board of the Open Society Institute-U.S. Programs, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore City.
Prof Ifill is a regular political and election commentator on both national and local television and radio programs. She has appeared on CNN, NBC Nightly News, and C-Span, and is a regular voice on local and national public radio.