Distinguished Professor of Law Kimberlé Crenshaw will receive an honorary doctorate degree from the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice on June 1, when she will also serve as commencement speaker during ceremonies at Madison Square Garden.
Internationally recognized for her work in civil rights law and critical race theory, Crenshaw is co-founder of the African American Policy Forum, a nonprofit think tank that builds bridges between scholarly research and public discourse by addressing inequality, discrimination and injustice.
Crenshaw was also honored by the National Women’s Political Caucus with a 2016 Exceptional Merit in Media Award at a presentation in Washington, D.C. on May 16. The award is given annually to media that “inform and educate the public about critical issues that impact women’s lives.”
Crenshaw was honored for her op-ed, “The Girls that Obama Forgot,” published by the New York Times on July 29, 2014. She contributed the op-ed as part of a broad-based intersectional political agenda galvanized by prominent black feminists and advocates of all races and genders. Activists released open letters to President Obama, organized town hall hearings for women and girls of color to share their stories and organized a Congressional Briefing in an effort to realign racial justice initiatives like My Brother's Keeper to reflect values of inclusion, equal opportunity and shared fate.