Racial Justice

Advocacy, equality, and wellness at the Penn Women’s Center

The Penn Women’s Center occupies three-quarters of a three-story house tucked off Locust Walk, with a front garden dotted with clumps of hellebores and daffodils during the spring. It has a full kitchen, a barbeque in back, and rooms that can be reserved by anyone on campus, with first preference going to student groups. 

Kristina García

2023 Women of Color at Penn Awards

The 36th annual Women of Color at Penn award ceremony celebrated the achievements of women of color at Penn and in the broader community, highlighting this year’s theme of self-care and healing.

Kristina García

New Juneteenth documentary explores notions of freedom and citizenship

An exclusive Penn screening of the film produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), plus a conversation with activist Opal Lee and Penn’s Mary Frances Berry, moderated by APPC’s Director of Outreach and Curriculum Andrea (Ang) Reidell, takes place on Feb. 28. Registration with a Penn email is required.

Michele W. Berger



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

America’s blueprint for urban inequity was drawn in Philly. It failed Black Philadelphians

Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta of the Weitzman School of Design sees an opportunity for Philadelphia to reset with an antiracist foundation, using Sankofa urban planning to incorporate Black history as a guide toward the future.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Affirmative action’s future waits as SCOTUS hears arguments

Cara McClellan of Penn Carey Law calls the claims that race-conscious admissions are unconstitutional a direct attack on more than 40 years of legal precedent.

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Associated Press

‘We’re triaging’: Cops combat violent crime as ranks dwindle

Ben Struhl of the School of Arts & Sciences says that violent crime is rising for reasons separate from social justice protests.

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WITF.org

A councilman in Reading wants the city to implement reparations for slavery

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences notes that nearly a dozen mayors in cities across the country have pledged to pilot reparations programs in their cities.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Let’s help a Penn professor get the U.S. to declare racism a public health crisis

Walter Palmer of the School of Social Policy & Practice doesn’t just want to call racism a public health crisis; he wants the country to do something about it.

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The New York Times

A secret city with a secret African American history

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences comments on a reported 7,000 African Americans from the Deep South who were recruited to work on the Manhattan Project starting in 1942.

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