The NAACP mourns the loss of Derrick Bell, a renowned civil rights activist and legal scholar. He passed away in Manhattan on October 5, 2011, at age 80.
“Derrick Bell’s passing is a tremendous loss for the NAACP and civil rights activists around the world,” stated Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the NAACP’s Board of Directors. “Mr. Bell always took a stand for equality and justice and has served as an inspiration to us all.”
Born November 6, 1930, Derrick Albert Bell Jr. became a pioneer for civil rights when he resigned his post with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department after he was asked to terminate his membership with the NAACP. Following his departure from the Justice Department, Bell served as associate counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he fought to end segregation in southern schools. Mr. Bell later went on to become a distinguished author and legal scholar.
“We are deeply saddened by this news,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Through his work as a legal scholar, author, and educator, Derrick Bell helped expose the world to the civil rights movement and the racism in our legal system.”
Bell joined the faculty of Harvard in 1969 and taught a groundbreaking course in civil rights law. In 1971, he became the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School. Bell later went on to the University of Oregon School of Law where he became the first African American dean at a non-black law school.
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