This past week, the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on Minority Groups announced its annual award winners for 2018. 

The Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Award is named after the late Derrick Albert Bell (1930-2011), who was the first Black tenured professor of Harvard Law School.  Professor Bell was well known for his protests against the University of Oregon School of Law, where he resigned when the faculty refused to hire an Asian American woman candidate, and against Harvard Law School, where he refused to return from a leave of absence in protest of the Law School faculty's lack of women of color.  Professor Bell later became a visiting professor at New York University (NYU) School of Law.  He was also a founding figure in Critical Race Theory (CRT), and his generosity and efforts to "humanize the law school experience" are also well known to his former students. 

The Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Award is presented to "“a junior faculty member who, through activism, mentoring, colleagueship, teaching and scholarship, has made an extraordinary contribution to legal education, the legal system or social justice.”  This year's winner is Professor Stacy Hawkins of Rutgers University-Camden School of Law.  Professor Hawkins was especially recognized for her "commitment to diversity issues in her scholarship and teaching, as well as in her service contributions … [p]articularly … [her] … work with the Rutgers University Diversity Committee, which, under her leadership, has spearheaded innovative programs to support faculty diversity and to cultivate new avenues for identifying underrepresented graduate students."

The Clyde Ferguson Award is named after the late Clarence Clyde Ferguson (1924-1983), who was Dean of Howard Law School, distinguished professor at Rutgers University School of Law; and who was the second Black tenured professor at Harvard Law School.  Dean Ferguson served as U.S. Ambassador to Uganda from 1970-72 and also served in many capacities as a proponent of international human rights: he was an advocate for implementing many provisions of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, most notably those which dealt with race and religion discrimination; and he also helped to draft the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's statement on race in 1967.

The Clyde Ferguson Award is presented to "to an outstanding law teacher, who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching and scholarship."  This year's winners are Professors Dorothy Brown of Emory University School of Law and Guy Charles of Duke University School of Law.  Professors Brown and Charles were particularly recognized for their "work creating and building the Jerome Culp Colloquium, which provides aspiring law professors with crucial guidance and mentorship at all stages of the appointments process and throughout the initial stages of their careers as they prepare for the tenure review."

Congratulations to Professors Brown, Charles, and Hawkins.