Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kimberlé W. Crenshaw is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School since May 2022, having joined as Professor of Law in 1995. She also holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Law and Promise Institute Chair in Human Rights at UCLA School of Law, where she has been on faculty since 1986. Crenshaw earned a B.A. from Cornell University in 1981, a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1984, and an LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin in 1985. She clerked for Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1985-1986. Additionally, she directs the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia since 2011 and serves as Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum since 1996. Her career features visiting roles including Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics (2015-2019) and Fulbright Chair in Brazil (2006-2008).

A pioneering scholar on civil rights, critical race theory, Black feminist legal theory, race, racism, and the law at Columbia Law School, Crenshaw introduced the concept of intersectionality, fundamentally influencing legal scholarship and activism. Seminal publications include “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” (1989), “Mapping the Margins” (1991), Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement (1995, editor), Seeing Race Again (2019, co-editor), and #SayHerName (2023, co-author). She has published extensively in Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, and Signs, and led reports like “Black Girls Matter” (2015). Crenshaw's impact spans academia, policy, and public discourse on racial and gender justice. Honors include the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal (2024), National Women’s Hall of Fame induction (2024), AALS Triennial Award for Lifetime Service (2021), American Academy of Arts and Sciences election (2023), and honorary doctorates from Bayreuth (2021), KU Leuven (2020), and York University (2019).

Professional Email: crenshaw@law.columbia.edu