Derrick Bell, one of our nation’s most influential legal scholars and civil rights advocate was a tireless champion for equality. In 1971, Bell became the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Law School, but left the position in 1992, after a two-year leave of absence to protest the school's lack of African-American women in the faculty. He had an illustrious career pursuing social justice at the U.S. Department of Justice; Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; NAACP Legal Defense Fund; School of Law Dean at the University of Oregon and law professor at the New York University School of Law. Bell's scholarly writings have placed him in the forefront of Critical Race Theory (CRT), which is based on the premise that race and racism lies at the center of American life and is ingrained in our laws and legal system. Bell was known as a man who refuses to bow to conformity and truly carries the courage of his convictions.
NVLP Mission: To ensure that the wisdom of our country's extraordinary African American elders is preserved by and passed on to the young people who will lead us tomorrow.