ONE BOOK

2020-21 One Book Selection

"Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

The Office of the President & One Book One Northwestern are excited to announce Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption will be the reading selection for the 2020-2021 school year. We look forward to engaging the Northwestern community with the themes of this work and are excited for Bryan Stevenson to join us on campus for the One Book Keynote on Thursday, February 11, 2021. Registration required. Details to come in January 2021.

Welcome Message from Jennifer Lackey

Welcome to One Book One Northwestern 2020-2021! This year’s selection of Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy challenges us to examine and confront the systemic racism, inequities, and moral failures of the United States criminal justice system. Perhaps now more than ever, Stevenson’s voice needs to be heard. The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and other Black Americans at the hands of police violence have ignited a global reckoning with America’s pernicious investment in policing, criminalization, and incarceration. The failure to adequately address the COVID-19 crisis, especially as it devastated vulnerable communities, including prison populations, revealed the nation’s prioritizing of some lives over others. But Stevenson calls us forward to a better, fairer world—one that is more just in being more merciful. As a nation, we can divest from the systems that have led to this national crisis and invest in the values that will truly make our communities flourish, such as education, healthcare, and support services. As we read Just Mercy together this year, let’s accept Stevenson’s invitation to rethink what justice demands and, in so doing, to reimagine what is possible.

Trailer for NPEP Documentary

Jennifer Lackey is the Director of Northwestern’s Prison Education Program (NPEP). Watch this trailer to learn more about the program and visit the NPEP website to watch the full film.