Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Lecture 2024: Kimberlé Crenshaw '81

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This year’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration will feature Cornell ’81 alumna Kimberlé Crenshaw, speaking on The Urgency of Intersectional Justice. A leading legal scholar and civil rights advocate, Crenshaw’s work has been foundational in establishing critical race theory and intersectionality, both terms she coined and frameworks that have been increasingly attacked, misunderstood, and even legislated against.

Now more than ever, Crenshaw’s work is relevant and necessary to understanding and addressing systems of oppression, and at a time when some are seeking to limit teaching about oppression, to defund DEI programs, and to shut down gender, race, and ethnic studies departments within public education. Crenshaw’s work recognizes there can be no liberation without truth-telling around past and present oppression, and she challenges us to recognize that working towards Dr. King’s vision of beloved community requires advancing justice and civil rights at the intersection of race and gender.

The 2024 Commemoration is part of the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Resource Center at Cornell, now newly renamed the Gender Equity Resource Center (or GenEq), and celebrates Kimberlé Crenshaw’s lifelong efforts as a leading advocate, educator, and pioneer for gender justice. This year’s Commemoration also highlights the intersectional work of the newly renamed Centers for Student Equity, Empowerment, and Belonging within the Office of the Dean of Students.

Recording available for those who register for livestream.

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Co-hosted with: Dyson Student Experience (OWNER), Dyson Graduate Students

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