Stories of Teaching Race, Gender, and Class: A Narrative

Authors

Brenda V. Smith, American University Washington College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Journal ISSN

1533-4686

Volume

51

First Page

11

Last Page

22

Abstract

This Essay arises out of the keynote speech that I gave at the New England Clinical Conference at Harvard Law School in November 2015. The conference theme was, “Teaching Race, Gender and Class: Learning from Our Students, Communities and Each Other.” The primary planners and hosts for the conference were clinical teachers and programs in the Northeast, but participants came from around the country to talk about the importance of addressing race, gender and class in this moment of black lives mattering. They wanted to talk about the way that these issues of race, gender and class had always been salient for the clients and communities they served. In particular, I felt that so much of the focus in the press and discourse had been about the experiences of black men and boys. When the President announced a “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative in 2014, black feminists and others railed at the lack of comparable efforts to address the concentrated oppression and abuse of black girls and women.

Recommended Citation

Brenda V. Smith, Stories of Teaching Race, Gender, and Class: A Narrative, 51 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 11 (2016).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/1976