The Origins of Critical Race Theory with Aja Y. Martinez and Robert O. Smith

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Aja Y. Martinez and Robert O. Smith will be at Pilsen Community Books for a reading and discussion about their new book The Origins of Critical Race Theory: The People and Ideas that Created a Movement. Critical race theory (CRT), a vital movement and discipline in American legal scholarship, has transformed our understanding of systemic racism. Yet despite insightful analysis revealing the threads of racism embedded in American institutions and society, it has been demonized by opponents at every turn, with numerous state legislators now seeking to ban its use in the classroom. The Origins of Critical Race Theory weaves together the many sources of critical race theory, recounting the origin story for one of the most insightful and controversial academic movements in U.S. history. In addition to introducing readers to the tenets and key insights of critical race theory, Martinez and Smith explore the lives and intellectual influences of the movement’s founders, shedding light on how the many components of critical race theory eventually formed into a movement. Through archival research and interviews with scholars like Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado, and Jean Stefancic, Aja Y. Martinez and Robert O. Smith provide the personal side of critical race theory. They reveal that despite the Marxist menace it has recently been made out to be, critical race theory is an organic extension of the Civil Rights movement, a deeply human and deeply American response to ongoing systemic injustice and inequity. An insightful exploration into the story of a movement, The Origins of Critical Race Theory narrates the hidden influences, fascinating characters, and intellectual struggles that informed critical race theory’s inception. Aja Y. Martinez is Associate Professor of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and author of the award-winning Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory. Robert O. Smith is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Texas and Enrolled Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He is the author of More Desired than Our Own Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism and Comprehending Christian Zionism: Perspectives in Comparison.