Re-defining Critical Race Theory:
The Future of the Movement
The year 2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the first Critical Race Theory (CRT) workshop. Twenty years ago, the founders of CRT met at a convent in Wisconsin to consider race and ethnicity and the manner in which these categories permeate every aspect of law and society. Although early CRT scholars were subjected to considerable skepticism, they bravely continued to write and speak about race, confident that their scholarship reflected an unacknowledged reality. Their scholarship entered the discourse of civil rights and constitutional law in the United States, but also influenced other doctrines, including criminal law, family law, and immigration law. CRT gave birth to other progressive, anti-subordination movements such as Latina/o Critical Theory, OutCrits, and ClassCrits. The academy has been enriched by the important contributions of CRT scholars.
On April 2-5, 2009, the University of Iowa College of Law will host a conference honoring the twentieth anniversary of the first Critical Race Theory Workshop. The conference, which is also co-sponsored by a consortium of schools,[1] will reflect on CRT’s earliest contributions, explore CRT’s influence on the law and the legal academy, and consider its future evolution and development. To this end, one of the conference panels will be organized around the theme, “Re-defining Critical Race Theory: The Future of the Movement.”
As part of this panel, two co-sponsors of the conference – the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dedman School of Law – are organizing a national law student writing competition. Students are invited to submit a paper reflecting upon the panel’s theme or engaging more general questions pertaining to critical race theory. The winner of the competition will be awarded the “Angela Harris Award for Outstanding Student Writing” in honor of Professor Harris’s contribution to CRT and her support of law students at Berkeley and throughout the academy. The winner of the Harris Prize also will receive $750.00. Honorable mention prizes of $500.00 will be awarded to two other papers. Authors of winning papers will be invited to attend the conference, and the reasonable costs (free conference registration, three nights lodging, and up to $600 airfare) of their registration and travel will be covered by the conference organizers. Finally, the winning paper will be published in the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy along with essays from a panel at the conference entitled “Reflections on CRT.” Confirmed speakers for this panel include Professors Robert Chang (Seattle University School of Law), Frank Rudy Cooper (Suffolk University Law School), Adrienne Davis (Washington University-St. Louis School of Law), Emily Houh (University of Cincinnati College of Law), Robin Lenhardt (Fordham University School of Law), and Adrien Wing (University of Iowa College of Law). Winning authors will also be invited to present their papers as part of a student panel during the conference.
Eligibility & Submission
Students who wish to submit an entry must be considered a student in good standing during the 2008-09 academic year at an accredited law degree program in the Americas and the Caribbean. All entries must be submitted in English.
The Selection Committee will consider all papers meeting the eligibility criteria and submitted by the deadline.
Papers must be submitted electronically to Professor D. Aaron Lacy, SMU Dedman School of Law, at dalacy@smu.edu.
Students must format their papers in Microsoft Word. The main text should be in 12-point font and double-spaced with 1-inch margins on all sides of each page. The paper should have footnotes, not endnotes, and the footnotes should be no smaller than 9-point font. Papers should be limited to no more than 15,000 words. Papers of a length not greater than 40 pages are preferred.
Only one paper per entrant will be considered.
Deadline & Review
Each entry will be reviewed by a group of legal scholars well-versed in CRT. To be considered, entries must be submitted by January 15, 2009. We anticipate that participants will be notified of the winning selection no later than February 16, 2009.
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