Justice doesn’t disappear with time, but for many families, it was buried for decades.

The LSU cold case project was created to investigate unsolved civil rights-era killings from the 1950s to the 70s. This group deals with cases containing racial violence that were never properly prosecuted.

I spoke with Christopher Drew about the overall impacts of the cold case project

“He didn’t know anything about it until he saw the stories the group at LSU just did,” said Professor Drew. “Based on our stories, he went to that event and apologized to the victim’s family on behalf of the state.”

Students work alongside researchers to reopen these cases. They even analyze more than 175k FBI files, court records, and newspaper archives, and conduct interviews to reconstruct what happened.

Morgan King, a student involved with the Cold Case Project, said, “The research can be daunting in the fact that your puting your mind and headspace back in that time.”

Many of these cases were originally ignored due to segregation and systemic racism in the justice system. Victims’ families were often left without answers or any recognition.

“We go out and try to find people who are still alive, and that can add to the picture,” said Professor Drew.

However, this group has been successful in favor of their hard work, as they have won more than 6 awards in the past 6 years, such as the four-state regional society for professional journalists award.