Research Guides: Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates &amp; Allies: Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory (CRT) is a scholarly and politically committed movement that takes as its starting point the centrality of race in American history and social life. CRT scholars focus on contemporary economic and political arrangements as well as the historic distribution of public and private resources. CRT began as an attempt to identify the ways in which race had either been ignored or minimized in the study of law and legal institutions, and to point out the consequences of that ignorance.

Fundamental to the scholarly inquiries that animate CRT is the idea that race is a socially constructed category that is deeply implicated in the use and circulation of power in society. Thus its two principal objects of analysis are race and power. CRT represents a body of work created primarily, but not exclusively, by legal scholars of color. It has generated related inquiries in the social sciences and humanities, especially history, sociology, anthropology, and education. Because it takes reflective engagement as a fundamental feature of its methodology, CRT sees the knowledge generated by community-based practices as an essential source for the questions that scholars need to ask. Methodologically, this has produced a narrative form of scholarship that uses “storytelling” as a concrete expression of the commitment to reflective engagement. The importance of storytelling is located in its narrative methodology for construing reality, making sense of that reality, and then translating that meaning, through the use of stories to invoke the voices of an excluded community (from Encyclopedia of Race and Racism)

CRT videos

What is critical race theory and why are states banning it? The 40-year-old academic concept provides a lens to understand disparities between racial groups, but conservatives argue it pits white people against people of color. Now, politicians want to ban it from the classroom.

A Guide to Critical Race Theory based on five of the most influential books on critical race theory: Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed The Movement - Edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas, How To Be An Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction - Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic, Words That Wound - Mari J. Matsuda, Charles R. Lawrence III, Richard Delgado, Kimberlé Crenshaw, White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo - Traditional And Critical Theory - Max Horkheimer

CRT web resources

Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma by Bell, Derrick A. (1980)
After Brown v. Board of Education was decided, Professor Herbert Wechsler questioned whether the Supreme Court's decision could be justified on the basis of "neutral" principles. To him Brown arbitrarily traded the rights of whites not to associate with blacks in favor of the rights of blacks to associate with whites. In this Comment, Prof. Derrick Bell suggests that no conflict of interest actually existed; for a brief period, the interests of the races converged to make the Brown decision inevitable. More recent Supreme Court decisions, however, suggest to Professor Bell a growing divergence of interests that makes integration less feasible. He suggests the interest of blacks in quality education might now be better served by concentration on improving the quality of existing schools, whether desegregated or all-black.
Creator Of Term ‘Critical Race Theory’ Kimberlé Crenshaw Explains What It Really Is
Critical Race Theory’ is explained as neither Marxist nor racist by its leading scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw, who co-developed this framework of study, and coined this term. Joy Reid conducts one-on-one conversations with politicians and newsmakers while addressing provocative political issues both inside and outside of the beltway.
Critical Race Theory Research Guide (UC Law Library)
Critical Race Theory "questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law." Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (1997). This guide will help you find resources on CRT.
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Law Library Libguide
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color (Kimberle Crenshaw)
The concept of intersectionality is Crenshaw’s rich contribution to our embattled understanding of identity politics. To illustrate the danger of traditional identity groupings, Crenshaw turns our attention to the complexity of inhabiting two such distinct categories at the same time as a black woman. While it is true that a black woman can hardly be considered essentially black (on account of the primacy of men of color over women of color) or essentially a woman (on account of the primacy of white women over non-white ones), intersectionality does not aim to dismantle these general categories altogether. Instead, it seeks to introduce an ethical and political pragmatics of identity.
What Critical Race Theory Is and What it Means for Teachers
Education law and policy expert Bob Kim answers some key questions for educators about these so-called “anti-critical race theory” laws and what’s really going on.

CRT books

Black Marxism by Cedric J. Robinson
Call Number: OhioLINK HX436.5 .R63 2000
ISBN: 9780807848296
Publication Date: 2000-01-24
In this ambitious work, first published in 1983, Cedric Robinson demonstrates that efforts to understand black people's history of resistance solely through the prism of Marxist theory are incomplete and inaccurate. Marxist analyses tend to presuppose European models of history and experience that downplay the significance of black people and black communities as agents of change and resistance. Black radicalism must be linked to the traditions of Africa and the unique experiences of blacks on western continents, Robinson argues, and any analyses of African American history need to acknowledge this. To illustrate his argument, Robinson traces the emergence of Marxist ideology in Europe, the resistance by blacks in historically oppressive environments, and the influence of both of these traditions on such important twentieth-century black radical thinkers as W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James, and Richard Wright.
Born Out of Struggle by David Omotoso Stovall
Call Number: OhioLINK HM435 .C53 2002
ISBN: 9781438459134
Publication Date: 2016-04-01
Demonstrates how critical race theory can be useful in real-world situations.
Critical Race Theory by Kimberle Crenshaw; Neil Gotanda; Garry Peller; Kendall Thomas (Editor)
Call Number: KF4755 .C76 1995
ISBN: 9781565842717
Publication Date: 1996-05-01
What is Critical Race Theory and why is it under fire from the political right? This foundational essay collection, which defines key terms and includes case studies, is the essential work to understand the intellectual movement Why did the president of the United States, in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, take it upon himself to attack Critical Race Theory? Perhaps Donald Trump appreciated the power of this groundbreaking intellectual movement to change the world. In recent years, Critical Race Theory has vaulted out of the academy and into courtrooms, newsrooms, and onto the streets. And no wonder: as intersectionality theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw recently told Time magazine, "It's an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it." The panicked denunciations from the right notwithstanding, CRT has changed the way millions of people interpret our troubled world. Edited by its principal founders and leading theoreticians, Critical Race Theory was the first book to gather the movement's most important essays. This groundbreaking book includes contributions from scholars including Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Williams, Dorothy Roberts, Lani Guinier, Duncan Kennedy, and many others. It is essential reading in an age of acute racial injustice.
Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado; Jean Stefancic
Call Number: KF4755 .D454 2012
ISBN: 9780814721346
Publication Date: 2012-01-09
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";}} In 2001, Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic published their definitive Critical Race Theory, a compact introduction to the field that explained, in straightforward language, the origins, principal themes, leading voices, and new directions of this important movement in legal thought. Since then, critical race theory has gone on to influence numerous other fields of scholarship, and the Delgado and Stefancic primer has remained an indispensible guide for students and teachers. Delgado and Stefancic have revised the book to include material on key issues such as colorblind jurisprudence, Latino-Critical scholarship, immigration, and the rollback of affirmative action. This second edition introduces readers to important new voices in fields outside of law, including education and psychology, and offers greatly expanded issues for discussion, updated reading lists, and an extensive glossary of terms.
Critical Race Theory Matters by Margaret Zamudio; Christopher Russell; Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman; Francisco Rios
Call Number: OhioLINK LC212.2 .C76 2011
ISBN: 9780415996730
Publication Date: 2010-09-14
Over the past decade, Critical Race Theory (CRT) scholars in education have produced a significant body of work theorizing the impact of race and racism in education. Critical Race Theory Matters provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of this influential movement, shining its keen light on specific issues within education. Through clear and accessible language, the authors synthesize scholarship in the field, highlight major themes and assumptions, and examine strategies of resistance and practices for challenging the existing inequalities in education. By linking theory to everyday practices in today's classroom, students will understand how CRT is relevant to a host of timely topics, from macro-policies such as Bilingual Education and Affirmative Action to micro-policies such as classroom management and curriculum. Moving beyond identifying problems into the realm of problem solving, Critical Race Theory Matters is a call to action to put into praxis a radical new vision of education in support of equality and social justice.
Critical race theory series v.1-4
Essays on the Social Construction and Reproduction of Race
Power to the Transfer by Dimpal Jain; Santiago N. Bernal Melendez; Alfred R. Herrera
ISBN: 9781609176198
Publication Date: 2020-02-01
Currently, U.S. community colleges serve nearly half of all students of color in higher education who, for a multitude of reasons, do not continue their education by transferring to a university. For those students who do transfer, often the responsibility for the application process, retention, graduation, and overall success is placed on them rather than their respective institutions. This book aims to provide direction toward the development and maintenance of a transfer receptive culture, which is defined as an institutional commitment by a university to support transfer students of color. A transfer receptive culture explicitly acknowledges the roles of race and racism in the vertical transfer process from a community college to a university and unapologetically centers transfer as a form of equity in the higher education pipeline. The framework is guided by critical race theory in education, which acknowledges the role of white supremacy and its contemporary and historical role in shaping institutions of higher learning.
Race Is... Race Isn't by Laurence Parker; Donna Deyhle; Sofia Villenas
Call Number: OhioLINK LC3731 .R27 1999
ISBN: 9780813390697
Publication Date: 1999-05-07
The field of critical race theory has gotten increasingly more attention as an emerging perspective on race, the law, and policy. Critical race theory examines the social construction of the law, administrative policy, electoral politics, and political discourse in the U.S. Race Is ? Race Isn't presents a group of qualitative research studies, literature reviews, and commentaries that collectively articulate critical race theory in secondary and post-secondary educational settings. The editors explore links and conflicts with other areas of difference, including language, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, with the goal of opening a dialogue about how critical race theory can be incorporated into education research methodologies.