Alan Jenkins

Photograph of Alan Jenkins

Alan Jenkins
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Harvard Law School professor of practice Alan Jenkins ’85, J.D. ’89, first mentions his hometown (Great Neck, Long Island), but quickly moves on to his grandparents’. One pair moved to the United States from the Bahamas, the other from Georgia to Detroit during the Great Migration. “I’m kind of the product of those migrations in search of opportunity—economic opportunity and civil rights.” Entering the College, Jenkins knew he wanted to pursue “something social-justice oriented”—and continue filmmaking. In high school, he had shot movies and edited film by hand. His crowning achievement: a kung-fu feature he made with friends. (He still practices that martial art.) As an undergraduate he resurrected the Harvard Radcliffe Filmmaking Club and even considered a career in film before deciding on law. He spent a year at the ACLU before attending the Law School, where he edited The Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and met his wife, Kirsten Levingston, J.D. ’90. After a Supreme Court clerkship with Justice Harry Blackmun ’29, LL.B. ’32, LL.D. ’94, five years at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a stint at the Justice Department, he and Levingston left Washington: “We often say we were the first people to move to New York City to slow down our lifestyle.” As director of human rights at the Ford Foundation, he led grant-making to groups focused on rights issues. Finding that many social-justice organizations struggled to share their ideas with the public, he left to co-found The Opportunity Agenda, a communications nonprofit. “My parents freaked out: ‘You’re leaving your job for what reason?’” He led the group for 13 years. Now, he’s back in Cambridge, teaching about race and the law, communication, and social justice. “For those who are trying to pursue a more fair and just society, I’m hoping to give them what took me 25 years to learn.” 

Click here for the March-April 2020 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Jacob Sweet

You might also like

Flocking Together

A former educator takes on one last big project: sheep farming

Faith through Film

The “Accidental Talmudist” on making Jewish movies

Understanding AI Vulnerabilities

As artificial intelligence capabilities evolve, so too will the tactics used to exploit them. 

Most popular

Danielle Allen Debates Far-Right Blogger Curtis Yarvin

Popular monarchist debates Allen on democracy.

FAS Dean Outlines Preparations for Loss of Federal Funding

“To preserve our mission, we must act now,” Hoekstra says at faculty meeting

The New Gender Gaps

What to do as men and boys fall behind

Explore More From Current Issue

Biology's "Mirror Organisms"—And Their Dangers

Life forms built from left-handed DNA and RNA could threaten Earth’s plants, animals, and insects.

A Harvard Love Story in Poetry

Young love: the poem, plus enduring lessons from a public-health pioneer

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences on Discipline and Financial Aid

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences discusses classroom conversations, boosts aid, addresses discipline—and faces austerity