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Faculty

Harold Mcdougall

  • Faculty, Law Department
  • School of Law

Biography

Professor of Law

Professor Harold McDougall has been a member of the Howard faculty since 2000, teaching courses on property, sustainable development, and civil rights. He has a background in civil rights and community organizing and has served the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as Washington Bureau Chief and the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) as U.N. Delegate.

He has served on the National Governing Board of Common Cause, the Board of Directors of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright Scholars Program), and the Board of Trustees of the Paul J. Aicher Foundation (Study Circles Resource Center/Everyday Democracy). He has consulted for the Kellogg, Kettering, and Village Foundations, and the Montgomery County, MD, County Executive’s Office. A Fulbright alumnus (Jamaica 1999) he was granted a Fulbright Alumni Initiatives award for his work on sustainable development in Jamaica.

Articles

Neurodiversity and the Mental Health Dilemma, Howard University Human and Civil Rights Law Review, Volume 7 (2023) 

 

Publications

Harold McDougall & Yaw Agyeman Boafo, Vernacularizing Sustainability in Post-Colonial Ghana, 34 FORDHAM ENV't L. REV. 1 (2022).



Prof. McDougall specializes in civic culture and civic infrastructure, focusing primarily on how these support sustainable social and economic development and human rights. Prof. McDougall has written several books pursuing these themes, as well as numerous articles and Huffington Post blogs.



BLACK BALTIMORE: A NEW THEORY OF COMMUNITY (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993) proposes a new approach to the renovation and revitalization of community civic culture.



AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA: A HISTORY AND A HANDBOOK (Lulu.com, 2011) highlights remaining U.S. human rights “trouble spots” such as racial profiling, hate crimes, discrimination against consumers, employment discrimination, voting rights, housing discrimination and discrimination in public education. It also looks at citizen action and access to local government.



THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS, 1963-1966

(SG Publishing 2015), is a historical simulation in which students role-play characters set in moments of crisis during the American Civil Rights Movement. They work toward achieving victory objectives by giving paper presentations, holding discussions and debates, and voting on various objectives.



DEMOCRACY ON A HUMAN SCALE (Eliva Press 2022) examines how a failure to learn the "hierarchy lesson" causes many social justice movements to either fade or transform away from their original mission. The answer lies in small groups, organized to match our genetically engineered empathic connections, linked into "citizen’s assemblies" to address social justice issues from the ground up, creating true democracy at a human scale.

Professor McDougall has published thirty law review articles during his academic career. Here is a list of his most recent publications:

His Huffington Post blogs can be found here.

Interviews and Speeches

Keynote Speech, New England Clinicians Conference on Rebellious Lawyering: rethinking how law schools teach students and engage with communities (2016)



The CAP·impact Podcast: Episode 59: The 2020 Election, The Courts, And Unions For All with Prof. Harold McDougall on Apple Podcasts

(2020) (Also available on Iheart and Stitcher Radio.)



NCoC Learning Circle: Two Essential Ideas - Civic Infrastructure and Asset-Based Community Development - Zoom

Harold McDougall and John McKnight (2022)

 

The Political Mike - Episode 75

22 SEPT 2022

The Political Mike - Episode 75

Join me for a special edition of The Political Mike with Professor Harold McDougall as we discuss where the mental health crisis and politics collide.

The Political Mike - Episode 81

27 OCT 2022

The Political Mike - Episode 81

Join me for a discussion on all things mental health. We're picking up from where we left off a few weeks ago with our discussion on where the mental health crisis and politics collide.

The Political Mike - Episode 84

16 NOV 2022

The Political Mike - Episode 84

Join me for part III of our discussion of where the mental health crisis and politics collide.

Harold McDougall, National Legislative Director for the NAACP, (Washington bureau chief)

Harold McDougall, National Legislative Director for the NAACP, (Washington bureau chief), testifying before the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, C-SPAN, July 25, 1997 (See 1:33:02 to 1:48:00; 3:12:00 to 3:17:26)

Impact of SFFA vs. UNC & Harvard on Advancing a Just, Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive (JEDI) Culture on Campus - Panel Discussion:

TMA Panel Discussion: Impact of SFFA vs. UNC & Harvard on Advancing a JEDI Culture on Campus

Impact of SFFA vs. UNC & Harvard on Advancing a Just, Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive (JEDI) Culture on Campus - Panel Discussion: June 29, 2023. (See 19:45-22:33, 27:00-30:34, 55:29-1:03:07, 1:05:29-1:05:53, 1:11:20-1:11-47, 1:15:14-1:19:39)

Education & Expertise

Education

J.D.


Yale University
1971

B.A.


Harvard University, magna cum laude
1967