 thumb|right|lani guinier lani guinier (; born april 19, 1950) is an american civil rights theorist; she is the bennett boskey professor of law at harvard law school and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at that institution.harvard law school - lani guinier biography guinier's work includes professional responsibilities of public lawyers, the relationship between democracy and the law, the role of race and gender in the political process, equity in college admissions, and affirmative action. ==early life and career== born in new york city, guinier is the daughter of a white jewish mother, eugenia paprin, and ewart guinier a black panamanian-born and jamaican-raised scholar who was one of two blacks admitted to harvard college in 1929. ewart guinier was, however, not given financial aid nor was he allowed to live in the dormitories on the purported grounds that he had failed to submit a photograph with his application. see lani guinier, lift every voice: turning a civil rights setback into a new vision of social justice (simon & schuster 1998) at pages 58-59. after dropping out of harvard college in 1931 because he could not afford it, he ultimately returned to harvard as a professor and chair of the afro-american studies department in 1969. guinier has said that she wanted to be a civil rights lawyer since she was twelve years old, after she watched on television as constance baker motley helped escort the first black american, james meredith, to enroll in the university of mississippi."balancing race and gender: ldf women pioneers", the defenders online, march 31, 2009 after graduating third in her class from andrew jackson high school, guinier graduated from radcliffe college in 1971 and yale law school in 1974. she clerked for judge damon keith, then served as special assistant to assistant attorney general drew s. days in the civil rights division during the carter administration."lani guinier, cv" in 1981, after ronald reagan took office, she joined the naacp legal defense and educational fund (ldf) as an assistant counsel, eventually becoming head of its voting rights project. ==nomination for assistant attorney general== guinier is probably best known as president bill clinton's nominee for assistant attorney general for [[united states department of justice civil righ
1950_births African-American_academics African-American_lawyers American_civil_rights_lawyers American_legal_scholars American_people_of_Jamaican_descent American_people_of_Panamanian_descent American_women_lawyers Harvard_Law_School_faculty Living_people Radcliffe_College_alumni University_of_Pennsylvania_faculty Yale_Law_School_alumni