Derrick Bell

Legal scholar and Critical Race theorist, Derrick Bell, was the first tenured law professor at Harvard Law School. Bell passed away in October of 2011. His impact within and outside of the academy is immeasurable as a scholar, attorney, and mentor, according to many of those students and young scholars he encountered throughout his career.

The New York Times published an obituary praising his integrity throughout a long career as an advocate for African Americans and a critic of systemic racism--rampant even at the highest tiers of academe.

You can also read a blog post the scholar Alondra Nelson wrote in his memory here.