Dr. Janet Dewart Bell

Dr. Janet Dewart Bell is a social justice activist, strategist, scholar, public speaker, and author with a doctorate in leadership and change from Antioch University. She is Founder and President of LEAD InterGenerational Solutions, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy and social justice by promoting democratic principles and leadership from an intergenerational lens. Dr. Bell is also the executive producer and host of the LEADing Justice podcast, which tackles the most challenging issues through provocative and informative discussions on elevating truth, democracy, and justice. A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Bell has been a senior executive and key strategist at several national organizations and serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Baruch College and was a Visiting Research Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where she co-taught a constitutional law course with her late husband, Professor Derrick Bell. She founded the Derrick Bell Lecture Series on Race in American Society at New York University School of Law, now in its 28th year, and the Derrick Bell Fund for Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Her book, Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement, is a groundbreaking collection of profiles of Black women leaders in the 20th century fight for civil rights. Her forthcoming work, Blackbirds Singing, celebrates the tradition of Black women’s political speech and labor, enabling the voices and visions of Black women to speak across generations to build power for the world. Dr. Bell is an award-winning television and radio producer with an Emmy for outstanding individual achievement and a Peabody Award for programming on preserving the African and African-American culture and history of Sea Islands for National Public Radio. Dr. Bell serves on the boards of Antioch University; the Authors Guild Foundation; and the Women’s Media Center, which she chairs.