Roy Brooks

Leading legal scholar and civil rights activist 

A graduate of Yale Law School and the University of Connecticut, attorney and law professor Roy L. Brooks instructs students on matters of racial justice, civil procedure, affirmative action, employment discrimination, and civil rights. His engaging lectures on "black self-help" are provocative, educational, and inspiring. Brooks is the author of numerous articles and books, including the influential and controversial work "Rethinking the American Race Problem."

Today, Roy L. Brooks examines the idea of racial justice in the context of a complex 21st century society. The election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States ushers in many new questions: What does the “Age of Obama” mean for racial justice in America? Does excellence eclipse race in Obama’s America? Has the election of a black president brokered new opportunities for black Americas? Brooks addresses these questions in his new book "Racial Justice in the Age of Obama."

Roy L. Brooks is also an internationally renowned scholar on reparations. His specialty is Black Reparations, although he has also written about other reparation movements within the United States as well as in other countries. Professor Brooks has given speeches and taught classes on Black Reparations at colleges and universities both domestically and abroad. He has given talks at international human rights centers abroad, and has appeared as a guest on several radio programs in the United States. His first book on reparations, "When Sorry Isn't Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice," is a Thorsnes Prize in scholarship winner for the year 2000. His second book on the subject is "Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations." 

Brooks currently teaches civil rights, employment discrimination, litigation, and legal theory courses at the University of San Diego as Warren Distinguished Professor of Law.