Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, the Promise Institute Professor of Human Rights at the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia University, was recently presented with the Triennial Award for Lifetime Service to Legal Education and the Legal Profession from the Association of American Law Schools. The award, established in 2006, recognizes career contributions by an outstanding faculty member at a U.S. law school.
Professor Crenshaw is one of the groundbreaking scholars in the field of critical race theory. Among her scholarly works, she is the co-editor of Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement (New Press, 1996) and co-author of Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected (African American Policy Forum, 2016).
In presenting the award the association state that “while we all stand on the shoulders of giants, we rarely get to walk alongside them. Kimberlé Crenshaw is one such figure, whose life and light we are privileged to witness. The impact of her cultivation of community, of her support and mentorship, of her shining and steadfast example, is immeasurable. The Association is proud to add Professor Crenshaw to the ‘Law Professors Hall of Fame,’ and to award her our highest honor.”
“I would have been delighted to have received the AALS Triennial Award under any circumstances,” Professor Crenshaw said, “but it is especially heartening to be honored by my colleagues at a time in which critical race theory and intersectionality have become targets of censorship and legal prohibition in many parts of our country.”
A native of Canton, Ohio, Professor Crenshaw is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School. She earned a master’s degree in law at the University of Wisconsin.
