Backtalker: Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw Reflects on a Life of Naming Truth

On March 23, Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw visited the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy's Centre for the Study of the United States to deliver a lecture, "Backtalking to Save Democracy," a sold-out event that was co-sponsored by 16 different departments across the University of Toronto. It was timed in advance of Crenshaw's upcoming book, Backtalker: An American Memoir, to be released in May 2026. 

In the 1970s and 80s, Prof. Crenshaw, then a rising star in legal circles, examined how the characteristic of race was still impacting opportunity and privilege in society, almost a century after slavery was abolished. She and her peers defined what is now called Critical Race Theory, a system of inquiry for identifying and understanding where race still determines access to safety, resources and choices, among other things. 

“We wanted to interrupt the various harms that were being produced in the nameless void,” Crenshaw explained. 

Crenshaw’s work has grown into the career of a pioneering scholar and writer on civil rights and legal theory. Beyond critical race theory, she is recognized for introducing and developing the concept of intersectionality.  

Crenshaw’s talk described the beginnings of her personal experiences with transformative justice. She included lessons from an age so young that she hadn’t yet recognized forces that demanded her compliance with a system not designed to offer her a voice. She shared how a strong response from her family laid the foundations within her to recognize that speaking the truth could change a heart but not repair a hurt.  

Changing a heart and changing the law can only prevent injury and pain. Long after her childhood experiences, that’s how Crenshaw still devotes her energy. In her talk, she shared some of those stories too, through the experiences of fellow organizers of #SayHerName, a campaign led by Crenshaw. 

#SayHerName is a collective campaign by the African American Policy Forum that brings support to those who’ve suffered violence and been denied justice, all with hope for a day when prevention is enough to stop the bloodshed of Black American women. 

“We are learning to live with it while we are reaching beyond it,” said Crenshaw in her address. 

She explained how important it is to define the material consequences of intersectional vulnerability, costs that are paid not only by American Black women but by Black women in every city and country. The price is revealed through physical outcomes, with comparative gaps in every health marker including maternal mortality, access to education and jobs, and economic outcomes. 

Professor Timothy Snyder remarked, “Critical Race Theory is, quite simply, sound historical method. History is necessary for empathy and, relatedly, for a population to mature.” 

Professor Amanda Sheely, Director of CSUS commented, “I am thrilled that Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw gave her first public talk on her upcoming book at the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Over the past year, CSUS has been highlighting interdisciplinary scholarship about the growing restrictions on U.S.-based researchers discussing inequity and social justice. In her work on Critical Race Theory and development of the concept of intersectionality, Kimberlé Crenshaw has been at the forefront in leading scholarship and advocacy efforts around these movements.” 

Professor Jason Stanley, a scholar of philosophy and anti-fascism, noted after the event, “Given the current context in the United States where research like Kimberlé Crenshaw’s is being actively banned, it is increasingly important to bring these kinds of talks to the University of Toronto.” 

The Centre for the Study of the United States launched “The (Un)Restricted Knowledge Speaker Series” to highlight the research conducted by CSUS affiliates and the larger community of scholars that study the United States at the University of Toronto on topics that had become increasingly difficult for U.S. based researchers to discuss.