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Projects/Events

Since its establishment in 2006, the Legacy Fund has sponsored a series of initiatives designed to help students, enrich the University community, and address social justice concerns on and off campus. Projects supported by the Legacy Fund include:

-- Brandeis marked the 50th anniversary of one of the most pivotal events in the American civil rights movement when three Freedom Riders and the alumnus whose historical scholarship helped bring their stories to prominence visited campus. More than 300 people -- students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the local community -- watched excerpts from the Emmy Award-winning documentary "Freedom Riders" and then heard Freedom Riders Diane Nash (right), Ellen Ziskind and Paul Breines and leading historian Ray Arsenault, MA ’74, PhD ’81 discuss the efforts of civil rights activists to challenge segregation in the American South in 1961.

-- Production and distribution of Fifty for the '50s, a compendium of pages from The Justice student newspaper that chronicled Brandeis's first decade. Fifty for the '50s was distributed at the first '50s decade Reunion in June 2010 and mailed to all alumni from the '50s.

-- Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, one of the country’s foremost experts on race and justice and a passionate advocate for the rights of the accused, spoke about race, class and crime in the United States.

-- More than 200 people attended an event featuring leading anti-racism activist Tim Wise, who spoke about his new book, "Between Barack and a Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege, and Denial in the Age of Obama."

-- Brandeis Celebrates Brandeis, a pair of events that paid tribute to Justice Brandeis as he returned to the public consciousness through the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp (right) in his honor and the publication of a new biography in the fall of 2009.

-- The Brandeis Explores the Journey of Humankind Project, which gave student volunteers the opportunity to trace their family ancestry, while highlighting the existence of a shared human history. Renowned geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells, the explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and director of the Genographic Project, gave a public lecture on campus as part of the project. 

-- The visit of Kim Bobo, a leading voice for workers’ rights and justice and the founder of Interfaith Worker Justice, who came to campus to talk about her experiences as a social justice leader and organizer. PDF of Bobo's address.

-- The 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Transitional Year Program at Brandeis.

-- The Justice Brandeis Jubilee, a year-long campus celebration of Justice Brandeis’s 150th birthday during the 2006-07 academic year, which included academic symposia, art and archival exhibitions, a birthday reception, and other events.

-- Publication of an award-winning, scrapbook-style biography of Louis D. Brandeis, which is presented to each member of the incoming freshman class.

-- Production of “Louis Brandeis: The People’s Attorney,” a 50-minute documentary directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Charles Stuart that aired on PBS.