Dorothy Roberts facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dorothy Roberts
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Dorothy E. Roberts
March 8, 1956 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
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| Education | Yale University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
| Employer | University of Pennsylvania |
Dorothy E. Roberts (born March 8, 1956) is an important American expert. She is a professor who studies law and society. She teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Roberts writes and speaks about how gender, race, and social class affect legal issues.
She focuses on topics like health fairness, child well-being, and new medical science. In 2023, she was chosen to join the American Philosophical Society. This is a group of very smart people. She has written many articles for top law journals. In 2024, she received a special award called the MacArthur "Genius Grant".
Early Life and Education
Dorothy Roberts was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was white, and her mother was from Jamaica. They raised her in Hyde Park, a neighborhood in Chicago. Her family was very involved in political discussions. Her father was an anthropologist, which means he studied human societies. Her mother helped him with his research.
Her parents met at the University of Chicago. Dorothy Roberts went to Yale University for her first degree. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors. Then, she went to Harvard Law School and earned her law degree.
After law school, she became a professor. She taught at Rutgers and Northwestern University. She also visited and taught at Stanford and Fordham. She has been a fellow at important programs at Harvard and Stanford.
Professor Roberts helps lead several groups. She is the chair of the Black Women's Health Imperative. This group works to improve the health of Black women. She also serves on boards that help protect children and guide stem cell research.
A Voice for Justice
Dorothy Roberts has written many articles and essays. Her work has appeared in famous law journals and newspapers. She has also written several important books.
One of her books is Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. This book talks about how the American government and society have treated the reproductive rights of Black women. She explains how this has affected their freedom and choices. Another book is Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare. This book looks at how race affects the child welfare system. Her book Killing the Black Body won an award in 1998 for studying human rights.
Many people have praised her work. Publishers Weekly and the head of the American Civil Liberties Union have spoken highly of her.
Teaching and Research
Professor Roberts is a popular speaker and teacher. She has given many special lectures at universities like Yale Law School. Students at Rutgers University School of Law chose her twice to speak at their graduation. Students at Northwestern University School of Law also voted her their best first-year professor.
She was a Fulbright Scholar in Trinidad and Tobago. There, she studied family planning and how gender affects HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. Her current research looks at how state supervision of children is focused in African American communities. She also studies how race is used in medical research and biotechnology.
Dorothy Roberts is featured in a documentary film called Silent Choices. She also helped advise the filmmakers.
In 2019, she gave a lecture called "The Problem with Race-Based Medicine." In this talk, she explained that race is a social idea, not a biological one. She argues that using race in medicine can make things more complicated. It can stop doctors from looking deeper into what really causes health differences. She believes this is especially important with new genetic science. She says it's wrong to think that all diseases come from a person's race or genes. This idea can really affect how women, children, and African Americans get medical care.
Awards and Recognition
- 1998 recipient of the Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America
- 2015 recipient of the Solomon Carter Fuller Award
- Northwestern University School of Law's Kirkland & Ellis Professor
- Faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research
- Fellow at Harvard University's Program in Ethics
- Fellow at Stanford's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
- Chair of the board of directors of the Black Women's Health Imperative
- Member of the board of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
- 2022 elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2024 MacArthur Fellow
