Origins & Early Life

Derrick Albert Bell Jr. (November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011) was an American lawyer, legal scholar, and civil rights activist. Bell first worked for the U.S. Justice Department, then the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he supervised over 300 school desegregation cases in Mississippi.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

After a decade as a civil rights lawyer, Bell moved into academia where he spent the second half of his life. He started teaching at the University of Southern California, then moved to Harvard Law School where he became the first tenured African-American professor of law in 1971. Bell was the first African American dean at the University of Oregon School of Law, serving from 1981 to 1985. From 1991 until his death in 2011, Bell was a visiting professor of constitutional law at New York University School of Law. Bell developed scholarship, writing many articles and multiple books, using his practical legal experience and his academic research to examine racism, particularly in the legal system.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Bell questioned civil rights advocacy approaches, partially stemming from frustrations in his own experiences as a lawyer. Bell is credited as one of the originators of critical race theory.

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