<p>Justin Hansford is a Howard University School of Law Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. </p><p>Professor Hansford was previously a Democracy Project Fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and an Associate Professor of Law at Saint Louis University. He has a B.A. from Howard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a founder of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives. Professor Hansford also has earned a Fulbright Scholar award to study the legal career of Nelson Mandela, and served as a clerk for Judge Damon J. Keith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. </p><p>Professor Hansford is a leading scholar and activist in the areas of critical race theory, human rights, and law and social movements. He is a co-author of the forthcoming Seventh Edition of Race, Racism and American Law, the celebrated legal textbook that was the first casebook published specifically for teaching race-related law courses. His interdisciplinary scholarship has appeared in academic journals at various universities, including Harvard, Georgetown, Fordham, and the University of California at Hastings. He also is a member of the Stanford Medicine Commission on Justice and Equity.</p><p>In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Hansford worked to empower the Ferguson community through community-based legal advocacy. He co-authored the Ferguson to Geneva human rights shadow report and accompanied the Ferguson protesters and Mike Brown’s family to Geneva, Switzerland, to testify at the United Nations. He has served as a policy advisor for proposed post-Ferguson reforms at the local, state, and federal level, testifying before the Ferguson Commission, the Missouri Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.</p>
Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University
<ul><li><strong>Let’s Talk About Critical Race Theory</strong></li><li>In the wake of the protest movement after the killing of George Floyd in the Summer of 2020, we have seen states engage in a sweeping series of backlash measures against the teaching of “critical race theory” in schools across the nation. As a co-founder of the Georgetown Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives in 2005, and a co-author of the 7th edition of the flagship critical race theory textbook Race, Racism and American Law, Professor Hansford will draw on his almost two decades of engagement with critical race theory to explain what it is, how it is under attack, and the implications means for our society in 2022 and beyond.</li><li><strong>Freedom of Speech in the Age of Black Lives Matter</strong></li><li>An upsurge in racial justice protest has challenged the limits of the First Amendment in areas that include campus free speech, protest, social media, and the use of confederate symbols nationwide. This is not a one-sided endeavor--although the law often dictates the options for social change, social movements often dictate the contours of the law as well. In light of these developments and the outcry against "political correctness" in the age of racial justice, how do we understand the parameters of free speech in light of our rapidly evolving conversations and justice?</li><li><strong>Using Your Expertise to Help the Black Lives Matter Movement</strong></li><li>Although the broader Black Lives Matter movement will be led by the people on the frontlines, knowledge workers can play a significant role in helping to accumulate power for the movement by using their expertise in strategic partnership with grassroots organizers. As a "movement lawyer" dedicated to working with mobilized clients and exploring an integrated approach to human rights advocacy, Justin has been able to grasp the fundamentals of engagement that can aid professionals in finding ethical and meaningful ways to participate and support our defining movement for social change.</li></ul>