Description: (Lawyer)
Derrick Bell Jr. was a prominent American lawyer, legal scholar, and civil rights activist. He played key roles at the U.S. Justice Department and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, overseeing school desegregation cases. Bell transitioned to academia and became the first African-American law professor to receive tenure at USC and Harvard Law School. He later taught at NYU School of Law and served as a dean at the University of Oregon School of Law. Bell's influential work centered on analyzing racism within the legal system, establishing him as a trailblazer in critical race theory.