The Laura Flanders Show, Kimberlé Crenshaw Laura Flanders 2017, CC BY 3.0
Kimberlé Crenshaw is a trailblazing scholar, civil rights advocate, and legal theorist best known for developing the concept of “intersectionality.” Born in 1959, Crenshaw has spent her career unpacking the ways in which overlapping systems of oppression—especially those related to race, gender, and class—shape the experiences of marginalized people. Her work has profoundly influenced not only legal studies but also social movements, public policy, and cultural critique. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “it’s not just about race or gender, but both,” you’ve encountered a ripple of her intellectual legacy.
Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality" in 1989 in a now-canonical paper titled Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex. In it, she critiqued the legal system's failure to recognize how Black women face unique forms of discrimination that can’t be fully understood through a single-axis framework of race or gender alone. This idea wasn't just academic—it emerged from real-world cases where Black women plaintiffs were excluded from legal protections because their experiences didn’t fit within the narrow confines of how discrimination was legally defined.
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung from Berlin, Deutschland, Kimberlé Crenshaw (47815561742), CC BY-SA 4.0
Educated at Cornell University, Harvard Law School, and the University of Wisconsin Law School, Crenshaw has held professorships at both UCLA and Columbia Law School. But she’s not just a professor tucked behind a desk—she’s a public intellectual in the fullest sense. Her work reaches into courtrooms, classrooms, and community organizing spaces alike. She founded the African American Policy Forum, a think tank that bridges scholarly research and grassroots activism.
What makes Crenshaw’s work enduringly relevant is its practical application. From the #SayHerName campaign—highlighting police violence against Black women—to policy debates about affirmative action and reproductive justice, her theories are not just abstractions. They’re tools. Intersectionality helps decode why social problems are so persistent and why solutions must be nuanced rather than one-size-fits-all.
Critics of intersectionality sometimes paint it as divisive or overly academic. But Crenshaw herself has always emphasized its accessibility and moral urgency. Intersectionality isn’t about creating new hierarchies of victimhood—it’s about illuminating blind spots so we can build better systems for everyone. It’s a framework for empathy, one that insists we see each other in full, complex detail.
In recent years, Crenshaw has become a sought-after speaker and media presence, offering expert commentary on issues from police brutality to the rollback of civil rights protections. Her TED Talk, “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” has millions of views and captures her signature blend of intellect, clarity, and fierce compassion. She has been recognized globally for her contributions, earning numerous awards and honorary degrees for her groundbreaking work.
Ultimately, Kimberlé Crenshaw reshaped the way we think about identity, justice, and equality. She gave us a language for describing what many intuitively knew but lacked the vocabulary to express. In doing so, she empowered generations of thinkers, organizers, and everyday people to advocate for a world that truly sees—and serves—everyone.