Black History Today: Dr. Derrick Bell, the law professor whose "radical" ideas are still shaping our understanding of race in America
/Black History Today, an annual series created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond. Check back every day in February as we recognize the often-overlooked heroes who are shaping the future.
By Stephan Blanford
During Black History Month, readers and students are often encouraged to take time to reflect on the critical role that African Americans have played in the history of our country. Pegged to the month of February because of the births of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass on the 12th and 14th, respectively, Black History Month has been celebrated informally since the early years of the 20th Century. In 1976, President Gerald Ford encouraged all Americans “to seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
A frequent critique of the way that Black History Month is celebrated is the manner by which school teachers, librarians, corporate advertisers and others will use their platforms to narrowly focus on only a few African American history-makers during February, selectively promoting a one-sided and self-serving narrative and erasing a rich history of African American activism and dissent. Rather than presenting a balanced view of the expansive history of African Americans’ long struggle for freedom from oppression, these cultural gatekeepers repeatedly highlight MLK’s I Have a Dream speech or the exploits of this athlete or that musician, thereby negating centuries of African American scholarship, protest and sacrifice.
A powerfully influential but publicly neglected African American is Dr. Derrick Bell (1930 – 2011). Considered by many to be the father of Critical Race Theory, Prof. Bell was the first tenured African American law professor at Harvard Law School, a prolific writer (Faces at the Bottom of the Well) and led the Western Center on Law and Poverty. While at Harvard, he conceived a somewhat radical legal theory that challenged long-held notions of legal impartiality and centered race in all aspects of the law and American society.
Bell forced the legitimization of his work despite scorn heaped on him by the Harvard administration, ultimately losing his Harvard tenure in protest. Ultimately, as seen in this video, he was revered by his students and publicly acknowledged by a young Barack Obama for the power of his scholarship and moral courage.
Critical Race Theory centers the concept of race in all aspects of the law, and states that racism and white supremacy are not aberrations as we are led to believe, but a regular, commonplace aspect of life in America. It introduces the concept of “interest convergence,” a fairly radical idea that racial reforms (civil rights policies) in any aspect of society must ultimately benefit the dominant group in order to gain acceptance. It elevates the voices of those who have been oppressed through counter-narratives and critiques notions of meritocracy (i.e. “a level playing field”) and colorblindness (i.e. “I don’t see color”).
Critical Race Theory’s analytical lens helps us to understand how power structures actually operate in our society and why disparities in education, health, wealth and power continue to challenge our idealistic notions of equality and opportunity. Once seen as a radical and dismal concept, it is now taught in schools, cited in legal decisions and employed in the design of policy. Professor Bell was instrumental in conceiving and promoting this theory and made tremendous personal sacrifices to help it grow and find a larger audience. It is interesting to think about how our society might be different if schoolchildren learned about Professor Bell and a wider array of African American critics and provocateurs during Black History Month.
