Patricia J. Williams (born August 28, 1951) is an American legal scholar and a proponent of

critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Go ...

, a school of legal thought that emphasizes race as a fundamental determinant of the American

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

Early life

Williams received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial ...

in 1972, and her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class i ...

in 1975.

Career

Williams worked as a consumer advocate in the office of the City Attorney in Los Angeles, was a fellow in the School of Criticism and Theory at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a Private university, private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded t ...

and served as

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

at the University of Wisconsin Law School and its department of women's studies. She was formerly the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where she has taught since 1991. As of July 1, 2019, she is the incoming Director of Law, Technology, and Ethics at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Ca ...

. Williams has served on the advisory council for the Medgar Evers College for Law and Social Justice of the

City University of New York , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...

, the board of trustees of Wellesley College, and on the board of governors for the Society of American Law Teachers, among others. Williams writes a column for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' magazine titled "Diary of a Mad Law Professor." Her column for ''The Nation'' has recently changed from bi-weekly to monthly. The Mad-Law-Professor (SM) is also the name of a super hero that she created.

Awards and honors

She was the recipient of a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

, which she held from June 2000 until June 2005. On March 1, 2013, Columbia Law School's Center for Gender & Sexuality Law honored her with a symposium featuring

Anita Hill Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university's Heller School for Social Policy and ...

Lani Guinier Carol Lani Guinier (; April 19, 1950 – January 7, 2022) was an American educator, legal scholar, and civil rights theorist. She was the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured p ...

, and others. She was elected a Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2019. On March 30, 2022, she received a
honorary degree
from the Faculty of Law,

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

"in recognition of her expertise in the field of race, gender, literature & law and her outstanding contribution to legal and ethical debates on society, science and technology in the light of individual autonomy and identity."

Bibliography

* '' The Alchemy of Race and Rights: A Diary of a Law Professor'' (1991) () * ''The Rooster's Egg'' (1995) () * ''Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race'' (1997) () * ''Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons, and the Search for a Room of My Own'' (2004) () * ''The Blind Goddess: A Reader on Race and Justice'' (2011) () * ''The Best Day Ever'' (1998) * ''Giving a Damn: Racism, Romance and Gone with the Wind'' (2021)

References

External links

Patricia J. Williams
at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked ...

Column archive
at ''

'' * * * *
"Patricia Williams, The Genealogy of Race"
''The Reith Lectures'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

, 1997
Oral History interview with Patricia Williams, 2014, IRWGS Oral History collection, Columbia Center for Oral History Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Patricia J. 1951 births 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women African-American legal scholars American columnists American legal scholars American legal writers American women columnists American women lawyers Columbia University faculty Critical race theory Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from Boston Living people MacArthur Fellows Members of the American Philosophical Society The Nation (U.S. magazine) people University of Wisconsin Law School faculty Wellesley College alumni Women legal scholars Writers from Boston