Story perspectives

Crenshaw Defends Intersectionality, CRT Amid Trump Ban Push

5/7/2026

Summary

Crenshaw Promotes CRT

Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw discussed intersectionality and critical race theory on NPR promoting her memoir “Backtalker.”
She coined “intersectionality” in a 1989 law-review article “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.”
Crenshaw later helped name “critical race theory,” a framework saying race is embedded in U.S. law.
President Donald Trump pledged a 2020 rally to ban CRT training, calling it “hateful Marxist doctrine,” while over 20 states restrict CRT teaching.

Summary

Crenshaw Challenges Discrimination

Kimberlé Crenshaw recounts Fly Club admitted her through a back door because women were barred.
She cites a 1976 case that dismissed a Black woman’s race-and-gender claim by treating discriminations separately.
Martin, a commentator, notes the firm hired women only as secretaries and excluded Black women.
Judges labeled the intersectional claim “preferential treatment,” prompting Crenshaw to use a traffic-intersection analogy urging courts to view race and gender structures as overlapping.

History

Historical Context

In 1976 the DeGraffenreid v. General Motors case held that five Black women could not combine race and sex claims under Title VII, issuing a 2-1 split that treated each discrimination separately. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s 1989 essay that coined “intersectionality” cited the decision, and its legacy now drives legislative and judicial moves to recognize compounded bias in civil-rights law.

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Crenshaw Promotes CRT

Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw discussed intersectionality and critical race theory on NPR promoting her memoir “Backtalker.”
She coined “intersectionality” in a 1989 law-review article “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.”
Crenshaw later helped name “critical race theory,” a framework saying race is embedded in U.S. law.
President Donald Trump pledged a 2020 rally to ban CRT training, calling it “hateful Marxist doctrine,” while over 20 states restrict CRT teaching.

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