Save the Date: A Conversation with Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

The Oberlin College Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership invites the campus and community to A Conversation with Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, renowned scholar and leading voice on race, civil rights, and intersectionality.

November 9 | 12–1:30 p.m.
Root Room, Carnegie Hall
Free and open to the public
Light refreshments will be provided.

Tickets available on Wednesday, 9/30. 

Hosted by the Oberlin Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership

Save the date and join us for this special conversation.
 

The Oberlin College Center for DEI Innovation & Leadership is thrilled to welcome Kimberlé W. Crenshaw to Oberlin College!

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is renowned for developing the concepts of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, two of the most talked about concepts of the day. But to truly recognize where these ideas came from and what they mean, you have to start with the woman who founded these concepts: Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw.  

Crenshaw shares her childhood experiences in Canton and beyond in her new book, BACKTALKER: An American Memoir, a powerful and intimate story of how a spunky little girl in Canton, Ohio came up with a new way to look at the world and forever changed the way we talk about race, gender, and social justice.

Personal stories rooted in national moments spill across the pages as Crenshaw recounts how her parents taught her to show love and compassion as well as how to navigate systems of power alongside behind-the-scenes stories of Anita Hill being exiled for testifying against Clarence Thomas and more. Her journey then takes readers to the present, where the concepts she spent a lifetime developing and teaching to the world have spread throughout the cultural zeitgeist, with their rising prominence making them primary targets of censorship and disinformation campaigns designed to weaken their impact on the movement for justice.

Join The Oberlin College Center for DEI Innovation & Leadership in conversation with Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw as we discuss her personal history of backtalking and what it means to be a backtalker in 2026.
 

About Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Kimberlé W. Crenshaw is a pioneering scholar and writer on civil rights, Black feminist legal theory, race, racism, and the law. She was a founder and has been a leader in the intellectual movement called Critical Race Theory and is also known for introducing and developing the concept of intersectionality. She is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, and the cofounder and Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum. Crenshaw writes regularly for The New Republic, The Nation, and Ms., hosts the podcast Intersectionality Matters!, and has appeared as a commentator on media outlets including MSNBC and NPR.