The goal of the center is to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities impacted by historical and modern-day racial oppression in a wide range of areas.
Photo: From left, Larry Gibson, Renée McDonald Hutchins, Taunya Lovell Banks, and Michael Pinard.
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law recently announced the launch of the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law. The center, named in honor of Maryland Carey Law professors and civil rights pioneers Larry Gibson, LLB, and Taunya Lovell Banks, JD, will advance racial justice through education, advocacy, and research. The announcement was made at the school’s fifth Black Law Alumni Reunion, which has taken place every five years since 2003.
The overarching aim of the center will be to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities impacted by historical and modern-day racial oppression in a wide range of areas, including the criminal legal system, economic justice, employment, education, housing, health, and other emerging issues.
The center will engage in these efforts in partnership with a diverse array of stakeholders in Baltimore, the state of Maryland, and throughout the United States, including individuals and communities directly impacted by inequality, as well as organizations committed to racial and economic justice.
“The Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law is a vital addition to our law school and to the community,” said Dean Renée M. Hutchins, JD. “The center will provide a critical space for scholarship, engagement, and action on issues of race and the law. It will also serve as a resource for students, lawyers, and community members who are working to advance racial justice. The beauty of this center is that it will be a convener of all the relevant voices so we can get to the best solutions.”
The Gibson-Banks Center will be led by Michael Pinard, JD, the Francis & Harriet Iglehart Professor of Law. Pinard is a nationally recognized expert on issues related to race and the criminal legal system and will serve as the center’s inaugural faculty director.
“I am honored to direct the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law,” said Pinard. “The center’s overall focus and vision is to work with community stakeholders to improve the lives of those harmed by historical and modern-day racial and intersectional oppression. We look forward to engaging the issues thoroughly, expansively, and tenaciously.”
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