Antiracist Curriculum Development

Antiracist legal education stands at a crossroads. As law schools confront racial inequities embedded in pedagogy and institutional structures, incremental reform is no longer enough. Developed in collaboration with the Antiracist Development Institute at Penn State Dickinson Law, Antiracist Curriculum Development calls for transformative change and provides the tools to achieve it.

Designed for law deans, administrators, faculty, and professional organizations committed to structural reform, this edited volume advances a comprehensive blueprint for legal educators to build antiracist, equity-centered teaching and learning environments. Organized in three parts, the book moves from foundational critiques of false neutrality in legal education to strategies for empowering students through problem-based and theory-informed teaching to institutional pathways that embed reform in policy, governance, and accreditation frameworks. It confronts bureaucracy, settler colonialism, contested educational terrain, and the demands of ABA Standard 303(c), while showcasing innovations in social justice, legal technology, and faculty development.

Blending institutional road maps with candid educator narratives, Antiracist Curriculum Development equips institutions to diversify representation and dismantle racism to produce graduates prepared to challenge and transform unjust systems.

Nadia B. Ahmad is Professor of Law at Barry University School of Law, where she coordinates the Environmental and Earth Law Certificate Program. Her scholarship bridges law, technology, and social justice, with a focus on environmental justice and energy transitions. 

Sonia M. Gipson Rankin is Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law and Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Her scholarship examines algorithmic justice, artificial intelligence, and incorporating race into legal curriculum.

Contents

Introduction

Nadia B. Ahmad and Sonia M. Gipson Rankin

Part I. Foundations and Empowerment in Antiracist Education

   1. Toward an Antiracist Legal Curriculum: (Re)Visiting a Norm of Perspectivelessness in Legal Education

   LaWanda W. M. Ward

   2. Uncovering Theoretical Perspectives in the Classroom and Teaching Students to Develop Their Own Theoretical Perspectives

   Donna H. Lee

   3. Problem-Based Learning as a Framework for Teaching Bias and Cross-Cultural Competency

   Andrea Jane Martin

Part II. Implementing Antiracist Curriculum in Context

   4. Identifying Antiracist Curricular Touchpoints: Embracing Bureaucracy to Accomplish Change

   Amy Gaudion

   5. Teaching Antiracism Against the Backdrop of Settler Colonialism

   MJ Palau-McDonald and Richard C. Chen

   6. A Florida Educator’s Journey in Antiracist Teaching

   Nadia B. Ahmad

Part III. Pioneering Initiatives to Dismantle Systemic Racism

   7. Developing a Social Justice Curriculum and Concentration

   andré douglas pond cummings and Jordan Sender

   8. Providing Education to Law Students on Bias, Cross-Cultural-Competency, and Racism in Clinics and Externships Pursuant to the 2022 ABA Standard 303(c)

   Robert R. Statchen

   9. Teaching Antiracism While Teaching Legal Technology

   Kevin P. Lee

   10. Delivering an Antiracist Curriculum: Equipping Faculty and Staff with the Tools Needed to Become Antiracist Legal Educators

   Amy Gaudion

Epilogue. The Long View: Why This Work Endures

Nadia B. Ahmad and Sonia M. Gipson Rankin

Suggested Readings

Contributors

Index

Volumes in This Series