States Are Passing Laws Banning The Teaching Of Critical Race Theory. What Is It And Why Is It Important? A Guide To Resources

by Amilcar Shabazz and Abdul Alkalimat

Critical race theory has its origins in the work of lawyer, civil rights activist and scholar Derrick Bell, and Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Mari Matsuda, and Patricia J. Williams, among others. It is rooted in critical theory, which argues that social problems are influenced and created more by societal structures and cultural assumptions than by individual and psychological factors. It argues first, that white supremacy in the form of societal or structural racism exists and maintains power through the law; and second, that transforming the relationship between law and racial power, and also achieving racial emancipation and the elimination of social stratification and hierarchies is both possible and desirable.

DefinitionsA guide to critical race theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rDu_VUpoJ8

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory

Key ScholarsDerrick Bell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVy8w0Sz9LY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zYD1q8B30

Kimberle Crenshaw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberl%C3%A9_Williams_Crenshaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNKbGFoYC1Q

Richard Delgado
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Delgado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS-1fEHVA4U

Patricia Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_J._Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUtgmOHgpCQ

Organizations/JournalsAmerican Bar Association
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/

Critical Race Studies in Education Association
https://www.crsea.org/

Education Week
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05

Journal of Critical Race Inquiry
https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/CRI

Equity and Excellence in Education
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713845285

American Behavioral Scientist
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/abs/63/13

Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/mcrp-journal/

CurriculumNational map of course locations
https://criticalrace.org/

Brown
https://blogs.brown.edu/amst-2220j-s01-2017-fall/

Columbia
https://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/courses/27030

Harvard
https://hls.harvard.edu/academics/curriculum/catalog/default.aspx?o=76762

Stanford
https://law.stanford.edu/courses/critical-race-theory/

University of Massachusetts Amherst
https://catalog.umass.edu/gradbulletin/2020-2021/Page17581.html

Black StudiesPenn State
https://afam.la.psu.edu/people/areas-of-specialization/critical-race-theory

University of the West Indies
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi8leH5rIjxAhWUbs0KHW6qC7Q4ChAWMAF6BAgUEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cavehill.uwi.edu%2Ffhe%2Fhistphil%2Fchips%2Farchives%2F2008%2Fdocs%2Fparker2008.aspx&usg=AOvVaw1DOTsbkjtHIlblfMJCxrZ–

Warren Wilson College
https://www.warren-wilson.edu/programs/africana-studies/

The ControversyNational Public Radio
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1001055828/the-brewing-political-battle-over-critical-race-theory

The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/gops-critical-race-theory-fixation-explained/618828/

Michigan State University
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2021/ask-the-expert-critical-race-theory-attack-in-schools

Portside
https://portside.org/2021-06-07/how-critical-race-theory-became-new-conservative-bogeyman