Yale gives public health award to CRT professor

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar who pioneered critical race theory and the concept of “intersectionality,” received Yale University’s Winslow Medal on Feb. 3, regarded as one of the highest honors in the field of public health. 

Critical Race Theory “makes race the prism through which its proponents analyze all aspects of American life, categorizing individuals into groups of oppressors and victims,” The Heritage Foundation states. 

[RELATED: Columbia University president: ‘Critical race theory’ is ‘urgent and necessary’]

Yale describes Crenshaw as a “prominent law professor and civil rights scholar” who is being recognized “because of her groundbreaking work on intersectionality – the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class, and other forms of discrimination ‘intersect’ to create unique dynamics and effects.”

Crenshaw teaches at the University of California Los Angeles and Columbia University. 

Melinda Irwin, Winslow Medical Committee Chair, believes Crenshaw’s work has aided efforts to “achieve health equity and justice for all.” 

Trace Kershaw, who nominated Crenshaw for the award, argues that, because of Crenshaw’s work, intersectionality “has become a dominant way to understand the impact of racism and stigma on the health and well-being of marginalized identities.”

Crenshaw has received other prestigious awards, including in 2021 when she received The Association of American Law Schools’ Lifetime Service award.

[RELATED: University spends month celebrating Critical Race Theory]

A number of universities and organizations have begun offering awards specifically for advancements in critical race theory. 

The University of Minnesota offers the Glenda Lewis Critical Race Scholar Award, the Angela Harris Prize for Critical Race Scholarship is up for grabs at UC Davis, and the Critical Ethnic Studies Prize is available through the American Studies Association.  

Yale, HoSang, Crenshaw, and Kershaw were reached out to for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.