Michelle Alexander facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michelle Alexander
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Alexander in 2017
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| Born | October 7, 1967 |
| Education | Vanderbilt University (BA) Stanford University (JD) |
| Known for | The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Race in the United States criminal justice system Racial profiling Racism in the United States |
| Institutions | Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York |
Michelle Alexander (born October 7, 1967) is an American writer, lawyer, and activist who works for civil rights. She is famous for her 2010 book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Since 2018, she has also written opinion articles for the New York Times newspaper.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Michelle Alexander was born on October 7, 1967, in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, John and Sandra Alexander, were married in 1965. In 1977, her family moved to the San Francisco area. Her father worked as a salesman there.
Michelle went to high school in Ashland, Oregon. Her younger sister, Leslie Alexander, also went there. Leslie later became a history professor and wrote a book called African or American? Black Identity in New York City, 1784–1861.
Michelle Alexander earned her first college degree (a Bachelor of Arts) from Vanderbilt University. She received a special scholarship called the Truman Scholarship. Later, she earned a law degree (a J.D.) from Stanford Law School.
Michelle Alexander's Career
Michelle Alexander has had an important career working for justice. From 1998 to 2005, she was the director of the Racial Justice Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Northern California. In this role, she led a national effort against racial profiling. Racial profiling is when police or others unfairly target people based on their race.
She also taught at Stanford Law School. She worked as a law clerk for important judges. She helped Justice Harry Blackmun at the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Abner Mikva.
Later, she worked at a law firm where she focused on class action suits. These are lawsuits where a group of people sue together. She worked on cases about race and gender discrimination, which means unfair treatment because of someone's race or gender.
From 2016 to 2021, Alexander was a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 2018, she began writing opinion articles for the New York Times. She even wrote a piece with her sister, Leslie Alexander, called "Fear." This piece became a chapter in "The 1619 Project," a big project by Nikole Hannah-Jones about the history of slavery in America.
About The New Jim Crow
In 2010, Michelle Alexander published her most famous book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. In this book, she explains that unfair racial discrimination in the United States continued after the Civil Rights Movement. She argues that this unfairness is now built into the US War on Drugs and other government rules. She believes these rules have very bad effects on society.
Alexander compares these modern problems to the old Jim Crow laws from the 1800s and 1900s. Those laws kept Black people separate and treated them unfairly. Her book focuses on the very high number of African-American men who are put in prison, which is called mass incarceration.
She wrote that race plays a big part in this system. But it's not always about obvious hatred. Instead, it's often about "racial indifference." This means people don't care enough about racial groups and their problems.
The New Jim Crow describes how people from minority groups who have been to prison face legal discrimination. This means they can be treated unfairly when they look for jobs, housing, or public help. They can also be excluded from jury service. Alexander points out that this is similar to how their ancestors were treated under the old Jim Crow laws.
The book became very popular. It was re-released in paperback in 2012 and was on the New York Times and Washington Post bestseller lists. Many colleges and universities have used it in their classes. For example, in 2015, all new students at Brown University read The New Jim Crow.
Documentary Appearances
Michelle Alexander has appeared in documentaries to share her ideas.
Hidden Colors 2
In 2012, she was in a documentary called Hidden Colors 2: The Triumph of Melanin. In this film, she talked about how mass incarceration affects Black communities. She said that in modern times, more African-American adults are under control of the justice system (in prison, jail, or on probation) than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War.
13th
Alexander also appeared in the 2016 documentary 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay. In this film, she explained how racial inequality in the United States has changed over time. She talked about how it went from slavery to Jim Crow laws, then to the War on Drugs, and finally to mass incarceration. She said that many parts of the old Jim Crow system are now legal again if someone has been labeled a "felon." She believes that America hasn't truly ended racial unfairness, but has just changed its form.
Personal Life
In 2002, Michelle Alexander married Carter M. Stewart. He also went to Stanford University and Harvard Law School. At the time, he was a lawyer in San Francisco. Later, he became the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, which is a high-level government lawyer. They have three children. Carter's father used to be on the board of directors for the New York Times newspaper.
Awards and Recognition
- 2005: Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Institute
- 2016: 21st Annual Heinz Award in Public Policy
- 2017: The Ohio State University's MLK Dreamer Award from the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center
See also
In Spanish: Michelle Alexander (abogada) para niños
- Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
- List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)
