This past October, civil rights activist Kimberlé W. Crenshaw was named one of the recipients of Harvard University’s W. E. B. DuBois Medal. The award, only disseminated to those who have distinguished themselves through their work in African American studies, is considered one of Harvard’s most prestigious and was awarded this year to eight scholars.
A professor of law at Columbia University and UCLA, Crenshaw graduated from Cornell University with her bachelor’s degree in 1981 and went on to study at Harvard Law School, where she graduated in 1984. Her work has been instrumental in the development of critical race theory, and the term “intersectionality” was coined by Crenshaw to describe the unity between racial and gender prejudice.
Crenshaw has worked with the South African government to draft the equality clause in their constitution and provided information regarding race and gender discrimination for the United Nations for their 2001 World Conference on Racism. Recently, she has been honored not only by her alma mater, but also by EBONY magazine as one of their 2024 Power 100 honorees along with Vice President Kamala Harris and Usher, to name a few.
Crenshaw’s studies and literary works have been used as the foundation for the study of racial and social inequality in schools and broader reach settings as well. Her work has been utilized to promote groundbreaking change and advocacy for African American youth and Black women as well, with Crenshaw helping launch the #SayHerName campaign with the social justice think tank the African American Policy Forum in 2014.
A renowned author as well, Crenshaw wrote pieces in the Harvard Law Review, the National Black Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review and the Southern California Law Review. She also has published literary works outside of legal journals, as she is the co-author of “Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected” and sole author of three additional books. A widely sought-after public speaker, Crenshaw notably organized one of the first critical race theory workshops ever in 1989 in Madison, Wisconsin, which set the precedent for all, if not most, critical race theory curriculums across the country.
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