LibGuides: Banned Books Week: Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory: the Key Writings That Formed the Movement

edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Golanda,

Garry Peller, Kendall Thomas

Critical Race Theory: the Key Writings That Formed the Movement by Kimberle Crenshaw (Editor); Neil Gotanda (Editor); Garry Peller (Editor); Kendall Thomas (Editor)
Call Number: Chastek 3rd Floor Stacks KF4755.A75 C7 1995

ISBN: 9781565842700

Publication Date: 1995

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.

Why was this book challenged?

Reasons: Racial Content

Critical Race Theory is a scholarly research term credited to and created by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a Distinguished Professor of Law at Columbia Law University and UCLA.
“Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice. It is embedded in laws, policies and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities. According to CRT, societal issues like Black Americans’ higher mortality rate, outsized exposure to police violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, denial of affordable housing, and the rates of the death of Black women in childbirth are not unrelated anomalies." (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Legal Defense Fund).
“Critical Race Theory" has been incorrectly co-opted as a term by opponents who seek to silence discussions of diversity and inclusion in classrooms. Learn more about how a conservative activist invented the current conflict over Critical Race Theory in the U.S.
Critical Race Theory (the book) has been targeted by opponents for censorship, according to the banned books database maintained by Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson.
Kimberlé Crenshaw was interviewed by Vanity Fair in 2021 about how she has dealt with attacks by right wing politicians against her scholarship.
Kimberlé Crenshaw visited Gonzaga University on February 28, 2019 to speak about intersectionality.
Watch the video below with Crenshaw where she explains what the term Critical Race Theory actually means: