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Guide to the Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Papers
1950-2006
MC 138
Descriptive Summary
| Creator:
|
Bell, Derrick A. |
| Title: |
Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Papers |
| Dates [inclusive]: |
1950-2006 |
| Abstract:
|
Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bell, a distinguished
scholar and prolific writer on current issues, most notably civil rights in the United
States, is a tenured member of the faculty at the New York University Law School.
He earned his BA in Political Science from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and his
LLB from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957. After serving for two years as a staff
attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, he resigned because the department asked
him to withdraw his membership from the NAACP. Bell became assistant counsel of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and between 1960 and 1966 he administered 300
desegregation cases regarding schools and restaurant chains in the South. When Bell
joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1969, he became the first African-American
professor at that institution. In 1981 Bell left Harvard for the University of Oregon
Law School where he was Dean until 1985. He resigned his post at Oregon in protest
over the University's refusal to offer a faculty position to a "woman of color". He
returned to Harvard in 1986, but in 1991 took a visiting professorship at New York
University to protest the lack of diversity of the Harvard Law School faculty. The
Bell Papers, 1955-2006, are comprised of his correspondence, writings, and teaching
materials.
|
| Quantity: |
168.0 boxes |
| General Physical Description note:
|
168 boxes |
| Location note:
|
New York University Archives |
| Call Phrase: |
MC 138 |
