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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

On Sun, Nov 7, 2021 at 8:00 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> 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.

Excellent topic, Fred. Here is a potential lead. Below is an excerpt
from a 1990 article that contains a footnote referring to an issue of
"Critical Race Theory Newsletter" dated October 27, 1989. Maybe some
organization or person has an archive of this newsletter. The OED
could cite the first issue (if it is early enough).

Date: June 1990
Journal: Harvard Law Review
Volume 103, Number 8
Article: Introduction: Choosing Sides in the "Racial Critiques" Debate
Author: Scott Brewer
Published by: The Harvard Law Review Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1341318

[Begin excerpt  of footnote]
Robert Williams' Parable, Critical Race Theory Newsletter, Oct. 27,
1989, at 2, 2. Professor Richard Delgado rightly offers this panel
discussion as evidence of the "furor" that Kennedy's article aroused.
See Delgado, supra note 7, at 1872 & n.5
[End excerpt]

Garson

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