The collection below represents the key readings in Critical Race Theory. When purchasing the books, please consider doing so from your nearest Black-owned bookstore, which you can find here.
Selected Books
Derrick Bell:
- Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism.
- And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice.
- Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, & Kendall Thomas: Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Charles R. Lawrence III, & Mari J. Matsuda: Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, And The First Amendment.
Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic: Critical Race Theory (Third Edition): An Introduction.
Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic: Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge.
Adrienne D. Dixson & Marvin Lynn (editors): Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education.
David Gillborn, Gloria Ladson-Billings, & Edward Taylor (editors): Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education.
Lani Guinier & Gerald Torres: The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy.
Angela Harris, Jerome McCristal Culp, & Francisco Valdes, (editors): Crossroads, Directions and A New Critical Race Theory.
Ian Haney López: White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race.
Victor Ray: On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care.
Patricia J. Williams:
- The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor.
- The Rooster’s Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice.
Adrien Katherine Wing:
- Critical Race Feminism, Second Edition: A Reader.
- Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader.
Selected Articles
Derrick Bell:
- Serving Two Masters: Integration Ideals and Client Interests in School Segregation Litigation.
- Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest Convergence Dilemma.
- Racial Remediation: An Historical Perspective on Current Conditions.
Devon W. Carbado & Mitu Gulati: The Law and Economics of Critical Race Theory.
Kimberli Williams Crenshaw:
- Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Antidiscrimination Law.
- Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.
Devon W. Carbado: Critical What What?
Devon W. Carbado & Cheryl Harris: Intersectionality at 30: Mapping the Margins of Anti-Essentialism, Intersectionality, and Dominance Theory.
Alan Freeman: Legitimizing Racial Discrimination Through Antidiscrimination Law.
Neil Gotanda: A Critique of ‘Our Constitution is Color-Blind.’
Angela Harris: The Jurisprudence of Reconstruction.
Cheryl Harris:
Darren Lenard Hutchinson: Gay Rights for Gay Whites: Race, Sexual Identity, and Equal Protection Discourse.
Jerry Kang: Trojan Horses of Race.
Duncan Kennedy: A Cultural Pluralist Case for Affirmative Action in Legal Academia.
Gloria Ladson-Billings & William F. Tate: Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education.
Charles R. Lawrence III: The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism.
Ian Haney López:
- The Social Construction of Race: Some Observations on Illusion, Fabrication, and Choice.
- Race, Ethnicity and Erasure: The Salience of Race to Latino/as.
Brad Mason:
- What is Critical Race Theory? An Introduction to the Movement and its Ideas (With Further Reading).
- A (Relatively) Brief Introduction to Critical Race Theory.
- Twitter thread: What is Critical Race Theory after all?
Mari Matsuda: We Will Not Be Used: Are Asian-Americans the Racial Bourgeoisie?
Margaret E. Montoya: Mascaras y Trenzas: Reflexiones. Un Proyecto de Identidad y Analysis a Traves de Veinte Anos (Masks and Braids: Reflections, A Project on Identity and Analysis Over Twenty Years).
Gary Peller:
Vijay Prashad: Anti-D’Souza: The Ends of Racism and the Asian American.
Margaret M. Russell: Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Rights and “The Civil Rights Agenda”.
Mark Tushnet: An Essay on Rights.
Robert A. Williams Jr.: