[Ads-l] Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

[Shapiro, Fred]

In my last email I forgot to mention that in the late 1970s I spent a summer as a research assistant to Professor Derrick Bell, now considered to be the founder of critical race theory.  I was not a good research assistant at that time, but I am proud to have been associated with Bell.

Fred Shapiro


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From: Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 7, 2021 8:00 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

The term "critical race theory" is not in OED, but its recent meteoric rise presumably means it will soon be added.  The earliest citation I can readily find is the following:

1989 Anthony E. Cook in Florida Law Review Summer 441 (HeinOnline)  African-American history (and the African-American critical race theory that builds upon it) illustrates the need to connect theoretical reflection on what constitutes the good life to pragmatic efforts to secure that state of existence in the real world.

There was a Conference on Critical Race Theory at University of Wisconsin Law School, July 7-12, 1989, but I don't know if this was accompanied by any OED-citable printed occurrence.

Fred Shapiro

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