Legal storytelling is a movement dedicated to encouraging people of color to share their experiences of racism, particularly in the legal system. In some cases these have an additive value of introducing silenced or ignored perspectives, and in others they have a deconstructive value, in which authentic narratives challenge the racist narratives of stereotypes and myths (also called counterstorytelling)

Legal Storytelling

The act of reanalyzing historical events/accounts, at times with evidence that has been suppressed, in order to provide a different interpretation than the majoritarian which is more accurate to minority experiences of that event/time.


Revisionist History

These are specific actions studied and promoted within Critical Race Theory.

- Legal storytelling
- Revisionist history

Georgetown University

Critical Race Theory is an interdisciplinary movement made up of activists and scholars working to understand and change the relationships between race, racism, and power. 

Critical Race Theory (CRT)

Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2012). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2nd ed.). NYU Press.

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction 

Critical Race Theory came out of a time in the 1970s United States during which a number of legal scholars, lawyers, and activists decided that the advances of the civil rights era the decade before were no longer progressing forward, or were even being pushed backward. They saw a need for new theories and strategies to combat racism. More people and disciplines soon joined the movement. 

Origins of Critical Race Theory

- Critical Race Feminism
- Critical Race Masculinism
- Queer-Crit theory
- Lat-Crit Theory
- Asian-Crit
- Critical White Studies

Spin-off Movements from Critical Race Theory

While not universally supported by every critical race theorist, these are the basic propositions uniting the movement:

- Racism is ordinary
- Racism serves the dominant group
- Race is socially constructed

Basic Tenets of Critical Race Theory

Methods within Critical Race Theory

These are theoretical framworks that conflict or are positioned at odds with each other within the Critical Race Theory movement.

- Racial Idealism vs. Racial Realism

Divisions within Critical Race Theory

These are terms that were created within Critical Race Theory or are necessary to understand some of the theories within Critical Race Theory

- Intersectionality
- Color blindness
- Racial Idealism
- Racial Realism

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