[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Critical Race Theory"

[Shapiro, Fred]

After much effort (contacting every living scholar who was at the initial 1989 workshop on critical race theory at the University of Wisconsin), I have obtained a copy of the letter of invitation sent to participants at that workshop.  For months, no one could put their hands on that letter, but finally Professor Angela Harris of the University of California, Davis found it in her basement.


critical race theory (OED Summer 1989)

1989  Organizing Committee (First Annual Workshop, New Developments in Critical Race Theory)  Invitation Letter 30 May

We are pleased to invite you to attend the Critical Race Theory Conference in Madison [Wisconsin] this July. ... Participants in the first two sessions will present and discuss common themes of the material in an effort to access the direction of critical race theory and to identify and address some outstanding dilemmas.


This clearly predates the OED's first citation and is undoubtedly the print coinage of the term.

Fred Shapiro












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