Tomiko Brown-Nagin facts for kids

Tomiko Brown-Nagin was born around 1970. She is an American expert in law and history. She teaches at Harvard University. She is also the leader, or dean, of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

Her Early Life and Education

Tomiko Brown-Nagin was born around 1970. She went to Furman University. There, she earned a degree in history in 1992. She was also chosen as a Truman Scholar. This is a special award for students who want to work in public service.

Later, she studied law at Yale Law School. She earned her law degree in 1997. She also helped edit the Yale Law Journal. In 2002, she earned a Ph.D. in history from Duke University.

Her Career and Work

After law school, Tomiko Brown-Nagin worked for judges. She was a law clerk for Judge Robert L. Carter and Judge Jane Richards Roth. She then worked as a lawyer at a firm in New York.

Before joining Harvard, she taught law at the University of Virginia Law School.

Leading Programs at Harvard

From 2013 to 2018, she helped lead the Law and History Program at Harvard Law School. In 2017, she became the faculty director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School.

In 2018, Tomiko Brown-Nagin became the dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. This is a place at Harvard where people from different fields come together to work on big ideas. She is also a professor at Harvard Law School and Harvard University. She teaches about American legal history, constitutional law, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Researching History and Slavery

From 2019 to 2022, Professor Brown-Nagin led a special committee at Harvard. This committee studied Harvard's past connections to slavery. She helped write a report about how the university was linked to slavery. This report received a lot of attention.

Writing Books and Articles

Tomiko Brown-Nagin has written many books and articles. She writes about constitutional law, legal history, and the American civil rights movement. She wants more colleges to accept students who are the first in their families to go to college. She believes this helps students from all backgrounds.

In 2011, she published a book called Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement. This book won several awards. These include the Bancroft Prize in history and the Lillian Smith Book Award.

In 2022, she published another book, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality. This book is about a very important judge named Constance Baker Motley. It also won many awards, like the Darlene Clark Hine Award.

Speaking Out for Rights

In 2020, Professor Brown-Nagin spoke to a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. She talked about how the rights of protesters and journalists were protected by the First Amendment.

Awards and Memberships

Tomiko Brown-Nagin has received many honors. In 2020, she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, she received an award from Duke University. In 2023, Furman University gave her an honorary doctorate degree. She is also a member of several important legal groups.

Her Personal Life

In 1998, Tomiko Brown-Nagin married Daniel L. Nagin. He is also a professor at Harvard Law School.