September 30, 2025
Following the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law hosted a Legacy Awards Dinner on September 11 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, as part of a powerful and timely symposium that explored its enduring legacy and its continued influence on today’s most pressing challenges.
“It is an honor for the O’Neill Institute to celebrate individuals whose work embodies resilience, courage, and justice. As we reflect on Hurricane Katrina’s enduring legacy, these awards remind us of the power and urgent need for leadership in confronting inequality and advancing human dignity. We celebrate not only remarkable achievements, but the promise of building a more just and healthy future together,” said Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute and Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy.
The Legacy Award Dinner was emceed by H. Adam Harris with musical guest Adam J. Ivey. We are proud to announce the winners of the O’Neill Institute Lifetime Achievement Awards, who were recognized following an armchair keynote featuring Professor Dorothy E. Roberts in conversation with Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin.
The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Human Rights, Ambassador Keith M. Harper, was the first Native American to be named a U.S. Ambassador, when he served as the U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2014 to 2017. He is now a Partner and the Chair of the Native American Practice Group at Jenner & Block.
“Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award in Human Rights is humbling and I am honored by it,” said Ambassador Keith M. Harper. “Human rights promotion is grounded in the idea of ensuring human dignity for all, everywhere. I have been so fortunate to work alongside so many dedicated human rights advocates, whether in ensuring tribal sovereignty here at home or advocating for the protection of women, men, and communities all over the world. I accept this honor on behalf of all those who continue to fight for a more just world, those who persevere despite challenges.”
The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Pursuit of Justice, Pastor William H. Lamar IV, now serves as Pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. Pastor Lamar led the church in a successful lawsuit against the Proud Boys, a far-right White supremacist group that trespassed on church property and vandalized Black Lives Matter signs in 2020. In 2025, he announced that a judge had seized the group’s name and trademark as restitution for failing to comply with the court’s order.
“As pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, I am honored to receive this prestigious award from the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University,” said Pastor William H. Lamar IV. “Our church will continue to be a prophetic community rooted in joy and resistance as we confront authoritarian politics and policies and creeping fascism both domestically and globally. I will strive to follow our freedom- and justice-loving ancestors. We must build power and create the coalitions necessary to establish economies, politics, and legal infrastructures that value the flourishing of every human being. Anything else is sound and fury signifying nothing.”
The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Pursuit of Justice, Skye L. Perryman, is the current President and CEO of Democracy Forward. Under her leadership, Democracy Forward has emerged as a nationally recognized institution that is taking on the most significant issues affecting people, families, and communities in the wake of rising anti-democratic extremism in the country.
“I am incredibly humbled and honored to be recognized by the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University Law Center during a time when the stakes for the American people, the legal profession, and democracy as a whole are so high. The work of justice has always been urgent and is never finished. This recognition is a testament to the courageous clients I have had the opportunity to work on behalf of throughout my career and the exceptional colleagues I have worked alongside who have made me a stronger lawyer and leader,” said Skye L. Perryman. “This honor is especially meaningful to me because I received my legal education at Georgetown University Law Center, where I had the opportunity to learn from the greats, including the late Father Robert Drinan, whose commitment to legal ethics and justice and willingness to speak truth to power inspired generations of lawyers. I am continually amazed by the work of the Law Center as well as the Center’s O’Neill Institute, and the groundbreaking leadership of Professor Michele Goodwin.”
The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Academic Excellence, Professor Dorothy E. Roberts, is an internationally acclaimed scholar, public intellectual, and social justice activist, and has been a leader in transforming thinking on reproductive justice, child welfare, and bioethics. She is now the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I’m very honored to receive this award from the O’Neill Institute, which has been a leader in health law,” said Professor Dorothy E. Roberts. “This award represents a recognition that social justice, equality, and change are essential aspects of a healthy society. For that, I am deeply grateful.”
The symposium was co-sponsored by Ambassador Tom McDonald, American Constitution Society, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Democracy Forward, Feminist Majority Foundation, The Hastings Center for Bioethics, Jenner & Block, the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, the Law and Society Association, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Ms. Magazine, and Ms. Studios.
The Legacy Awards Dinner was part of the larger convening on “Memory, Medicine, and Law: Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.” The two-day symposium that followed explored Hurricane Katrina’s enduring legacy and its continued influence on today’s most pressing challenges.