Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Reese Event
On October 23, 1955, two white men murdered 16-year-old John Earl Reese and shot 13-year-old Joyce Faye Crockett Nelson and 15-year-old Johnnie Nelson in Texas. The violence that claimed Reese’s life was motivated by anger over the improvement of a local black high school. The shooters were never held accountable for Reese's murder. Fifty-five years later, justice was restored. On October 23, 2010, the Mayflower community, in partnership with Prof. Margaret Burnham and CRRJ, held a memorial event for John Earl Reese. In February 2011, the key players in restoring justice came to the law school to discuss the case.