The Social Justice Alliance, supported by the President’s Office and housed in the Department of Sociology, supported undergraduates for the BSOS Summer Research Initiative. In 2025, SJA supported two undergraduate scholars, Charlotte Singh and Erin Smith, mentored by sociology Assistant Professor Nicholas Smith in producing rigorous, justice-centered research that examines how systemic racism shapes health and well-being. With research as a core pillar of social justice action, this collaboration with SRI further strengthens SJA’s mission.

Charlotte Singh’s research examined how socioeconomic inequality and chronic stress drive Black-White disparities in self-rated health, demonstrating that these factors together account for observed differences. Her findings underscore the urgent need for policies that expand social mobility and reduce life-course stressors among Black Americans.

Erin Smith’s study explored the complex relationship between neighborhood racial segregation and mental health among Black Americans. Her work revealed how factors such as mastery and neighborhood poverty shape depression outcomes, challenging dominant assumptions and advancing neighborhood-level approaches to mental health research.

Together, these scholars exemplify how undergraduate research when grounded in collaboration, mentorship, and community-engaged justice frameworks can meaningfully advance scholarship, policy conversations, and collective understanding.

Anchoring one of the first and only Anti-Black Racism minors in the country, “Introduction to Anti-Black Racism,” co-taught by Dr. Rashawn Ray and Dr. Jeanette Snider, continues to offer students a powerful, interdisciplinary learning experience that examines how anti-Black racism operates across U.S. society. Organized into two-week modules led by leading scholars from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Humanities, School of Public Health, School of Public Policy, and the College of Education, the course explores the history, development, and ongoing impact of anti-Black racism through multiple disciplinary lenses.

Students consistently describe the course as transformative. One student shared gratitude for the “grace, organization, endless motivation, and push for growth,” while another thanked Dr. Ray for his “passion, research, and the way he breaks down the importance of our history for today and forevermore so much so that I no longer dislike history.” Others praised the course for exposing them to diverse perspectives, exceptional faculty, and lessons that will “truly stick with me forever,” noting that anti-Black racism remains deeply embedded in institutions such as education, healthcare, culture, and public policy and must be confronted across all of these spaces.

This course, along with other sociology courses focusing on improving community policing and addressing hate crimes, exemplifies UMD’s commitment to rigorous scholarship, innovative teaching, and preparing students to critically engage with one of the most urgent issues of our time.

This summer and fall, the BSU–UMD Social Justice Alliance advanced its mission through storytelling, dialogue, and service centered on the life and legacy of 1st Lt. Richard W. Collins III. Key efforts included the release of the Rich with Love mini-documentary (go.umd.edu/richwithlove). This film has since been featured in countless classrooms and events throughout the University of Maryland and across the country.

On what would have been Lt. Collins’ 32nd birthday, the SJA hosted a screening of Rich with Love at the Bowie Playhouse, followed by a powerful panel discussion moderated by Dr. Jeanette Snider with the Collins family, Mayor Timothy Adams, Dr. Beth Douthirt-Cohen, and filmmaker Loki Mulholland which underscored the SJA’s commitment to turning remembrance into action.