description Kimberle Crenshaw Overview
Kimberlé Crenshaw is an American legal scholar and civil rights advocate who specializes in critical race theory and constitutional law. She is a distinguished professor of law at both Columbia Law School and UCLA School of Law. In 1989, Crenshaw coined the term 'intersectionality' to describe how overlapping social identities, such as race and gender, create interconnected systems of discrimination. Her foundational scholarship has profoundly influenced modern legal and sociological studies.
insights Ranking position
Kimberle Crenshaw ranks #10 of 257 in the Lawyer ranking, behind Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., ahead of Peter Neufeld.
help Kimberle Crenshaw FAQ
What did Kimberlé Crenshaw originally mean by intersectionality?
Crenshaw used the term to explain how discrimination can operate through overlapping identities rather than through race or sex in isolation. She introduced it in a 1989 University of Chicago Legal Forum article focused on the experiences of Black women in antidiscrimination law.
What is the traffic-intersection analogy associated with Crenshaw's work?
Crenshaw compared overlapping discrimination to traffic arriving at an intersection from multiple directions. A Black woman can be harmed by racism, sexism or their combined operation, just as an accident at an intersection may have more than one source.
Where has Kimberlé Crenshaw taught law?
Crenshaw has held faculty positions at UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School. Her teaching and scholarship cover civil rights, race, gender and constitutional law.
What organization did Crenshaw co-found to apply critical race scholarship in practice?
She co-founded the African American Policy Forum, commonly abbreviated AAPF, in 1996. The organization later developed the Say Her Name campaign to highlight Black women affected by police violence.
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