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Critical Race Theory: A Conversation in Five Parts  

• Part I: What is Race?  Is America permanently racist to its core? \
• Part II: The Intersection of Race and Media: A discussion of Fruitvale Station and 12 Years a Slave
• Part III: Learning While Black: Excelling in a hostile environment
• Part IV: Race: Evolving images of beauty 
• Part V: The Black Church: Making noise or making a difference

Pittsburgher Derrick Bell is credited with conceptualizing Critical Race Theory, a school of thought and scholarship that critically engages questions of race and racism in the law, investigating how even those (legal) institutions purporting to remedy racism can more profoundly entrench it.   

Pittsburgh Public Schools graduate of Schenley HS, Bell attended Duquesne University before matriculating to the University of Pittsburgh Law School, where he was the only African American student in his class of 140, and only 1 of 3 in the whole school.  Professor Bell was what some might call an “intellectual activist.”  Engaging in what he called “participatory learning,” his teaching style featured each student as an active participant in learning, thereby empowering them to teach themselves and one another. 

Permanently affixed to Bell’s visage was the “racial lens” through which he filtered all interactions thereby illuminating the pervasive and profound inequalities existing and persisting in America.  In the midst of a fruitful and active career as litigator, social activist and educator, in 1986, Professor Bell staged a five-day sit-in against his prestigious employer Harvard Law School’s failure to grant tenure to two female professors of color.  Taking an indefinite unpaid leave, Bell continued his protest, never to return to Harvard.   

Each “Conversation” was a 1.5 hour moderated panel discussion by various individuals from the Pittsburgh community.  As a guide for the conversation, each participant was asked to filter comments through same lens used by Bell.