Sherrilyn Ifill on Nov 6, 2025 | UCSB Arts & Lectures

“My mantra has been ‘leave no power on the table.’ And that means that we have to believe that every place is an opportunity for the exercise of power to shape the destiny of our communities.” – Sherrilyn Ifill

“Sherrilyn Ifill is a dazzling intellectual with an uncommon ability to analyze and frame the urgent civil rights issues facing our nation.” – Bryan Stevenson

A Howard Law School professor and former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Sherrilyn Ifill is one of the preeminent civil rights lawyers of our time. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2021, her transformational leadership and keen analysis have been instrumental in shaping the national conversation about race and civil rights in the U.S. Now, the “precise thinker, riveting speaker and fierce champion of civil rights” (Glamour) shares insights on the 14th Amendment and citizenship, the importance of local civic engagement and the role that colleges and universities play in carrying forward the democracy project.