American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw shares the origins and development of both “Critical Race Theory” and “Intersectionality.” Growing up in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, she highlights her drive to become a lawyer and utilize the law to actualize African American aspirations. In her work, she carries with her the legacies of legal civil rights efforts. Applying an intersectional lens to the way that black women experience violence at the intersection of race and gender, Crenshaw advocates for their stories to be told through the campaign to #SayHerName, also the title of her newest book.
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw is a pioneering scholar and writer on civil rights, critical race theory, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism and the law. In addition to her position at Columbia Law School, she is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Robert Perkinson (moderator) is an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and director of the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series.