The Harvard Law School Library recently completed digitizing the working papers of the late Charles J. Olgetree Jr. (1952–2023), a Harvard Law faculty member for 36 years.
In 2022, Professor Olgetree’s family donated his collection of papers to Harvard Law. It consists of 654 boxes and 566 linear feet of materials from Olgetree’s career as a professor, author, legal theorist, and advocate for racial equality. Olgetree’s archive is the largest collection of Harvard Law faculty papers in existence.
A native of Merced, California, Professor Olgetree earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Stanford University and his juris doctorate from Harvard Law. After serving for eight years in the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, rising to the position of deputy director, Ogletree was appointed a lecturer at Harvard Law School in 1984.
At Harvard, Professor Olgetree founded the Criminal Justice Institute, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, and the Saturday School program — a forum to support Black students and examine critical issues in the study of law. In 1998, he was named the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law. Olgetree retired from Harvard in 2020.
Outside of his work with Harvard, Professor Olgetree was a legendary defense attorney who represented many high-profile clients, including Anita Hill and Tupac Shakur. He also spearheaded a reparations movement for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and their descendants. Throughout his career, Professor Olgetree edited and authored several books, including Life Without Parole: America’s New Death Penalty? (New York University Press, 2012).
Selections from the Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Papers can be viewed here.
