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

Mon Nov 8 17:30:43 UTC 2021

"Critical theory," the progenitor of all of these, is in the OED.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 9:24am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

I apologize for my somewhat dismissive response to Dave Wilton's posting. When I followed his link, I see that he has a very thorough and excellent discussion, in keeping with his usual high standards.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 9:15 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

The parent term is actually "Critical Legal Studies," and this too might be worth including in OED. It is not accurate to say that "Critical Legal Studies" or "critical legal scholars" is about race, although racial issues were of some interest to the "crits." Incidentally, the term "crits" is a significant one in legal academia, and arguably it too should be included in OED.

Fred Shapiro

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 8:06 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

There is also the related "critical legal scholars," which dates to 1982. It doesn't have the term "race" in the title, but that's what it's about. And the core ideas of CRT, but again not the term, date to Derrick Bell's 1973 book "Race, Racism, and American Law."

[ https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fcritical-race-theory-critical-legal-studies&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=BNJaMrEDKgzIqYmvqeDqBpMd4CIbwO478gjEHXGTg%2B4%3D&reserved=0 ]( https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fcritical-race-theory-critical-legal-studies&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=BNJaMrEDKgzIqYmvqeDqBpMd4CIbwO478gjEHXGTg%2B4%3D&reserved=0 )

-----Original Message-----
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 6:50am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F1341318&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=dPY3XokOriGnN3mVo4Om7FTmj90fQsEfcvJ%2FT9CtdKc%3D&reserved=0

[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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The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=8MmAEKq5YnQrIduNaCWGdibz2GQvfBP7usk7MoKWuOI%3D&reserved=0

________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 9:15 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

The parent term is actually "Critical Legal Studies," and this too might be worth including in OED. It is not accurate to say that "Critical Legal Studies" or "critical legal scholars" is about race, although racial issues were of some interest to the "crits." Incidentally, the term "crits" is a significant one in legal academia, and arguably it too should be included in OED.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 8:06 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

There is also the related "critical legal scholars," which dates to 1982. It doesn't have the term "race" in the title, but that's what it's about. And the core ideas of CRT, but again not the term, date to Derrick Bell's 1973 book "Race, Racism, and American Law."

[ https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fcritical-race-theory-critical-legal-studies&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=BNJaMrEDKgzIqYmvqeDqBpMd4CIbwO478gjEHXGTg%2B4%3D&reserved=0 ]( https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordorigins.org%2Fbig-list-entries%2Fcritical-race-theory-critical-legal-studies&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=BNJaMrEDKgzIqYmvqeDqBpMd4CIbwO478gjEHXGTg%2B4%3D&reserved=0 )

-----Original Message-----
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 6:50am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Earliest Citation for "Critical Race Theory"

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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F1341318&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=dPY3XokOriGnN3mVo4Om7FTmj90fQsEfcvJ%2FT9CtdKc%3D&reserved=0

[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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The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C4487a831bb7d4101d8f908d9a2c10631%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637719772177161483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=8MmAEKq5YnQrIduNaCWGdibz2GQvfBP7usk7MoKWuOI%3D&reserved=0

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org