Meet Dr. Monique Morris
NBWJI exists because the trauma and pain associated with the criminalization of Black women and girls were being rendered invisible by a dominant narrative that presented girls as “fine” compared to the men and boys in our communities. We still have much work to do, but no longer is there a blanket erasure of the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status that place Black women and girls at unique risk of contact with the juvenile court and/or criminal legal system. We certainly work to articulate the problematic forces that make women and girls vulnerable to harm, but we are equally committed to exploring solutions. As we grow in the U.S., we also seek to expand our global connections to inform the narratives that connect us with our sisters across the globe. For example, in 2019, NBWJI will lead a small delegation of NGO leaders and educators to Kenya, where they will participate in an exchange with Kakenya’s Dream, an innovative school for girls in rural Kenya. Our efforts intend to transform both the narrative and outcomes associated with girls marginalized by society. We consider this Freedom Work.
Dr. Morris is the Founder and President of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute (NBWJI), an organization that works to interrupt school-to-confinement pathways for girls, reduce the barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated women, and increase the capacity of organizations working to reduce sexual assault and domestic violence in African American communities. She served as an adjunct associate professor for Saint Mary’s College of California between 2013-2018 and has taught at the University of San Francisco and California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Morris is a 2012 Soros Justice Fellow, the former Vice President for Economic Programs, Advocacy, and Research at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the former Director of Research for the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the UC Berkeley Law School. She has also worked in partnership with and served as a consultant for federal, state and county agencies, national academic and research institutions, and communities throughout the nation to develop comprehensive approaches and training curricula to eliminate racial/ethnic and gender disparities injustice and educational systems. Her work in this area has informed the development and implementation of improved culturally competent and gender-responsive continua of services for youth.
Dr. Morris is also the author of the forthcoming book, Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues (The New Press, 2019), which explores a pedagogy to counter the criminalization of Black and Brown girls in schools. She is also the author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016), Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2014), Too Beautiful for Words (MWM Books, 2012) and worked with Kemba Smith on her book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story (IBJ Book Publishing, 2011). Dr. Morris has written dozens of articles, book chapters, and other publications on social justice issues and lectured widely on research, policies, and practices associated with improving juvenile justice, educational, and socioeconomic conditions for Black girls, women, and their families. Dr. Morris was a 2018 TED Women speaker and is an executive producer and writer for a documentary film exploring how exclusionary discipline impacts Black girls in the United States.
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