About

Shorter version: 

Andrew Reginald Hairston is a civil rights attorney, writer, socialist, proud bisexual man, and doting uncle who divides his time almost equally between Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. He loves, fights for, and writes about Black people.

Longer version:

Andrew Reginald Hairston is a civil rights attorney and writer based in Austin. Since 2019, he has directed the Education Justice Project (formerly the School-to-Prison Pipeline Project) at Texas Appleseed. In his capacity at Texas Appleseed, he supports campaigns to end the school-to-prison pipeline, and he has testified on various education issues before the Texas Legislature and school boards across the state; he has also engaged in discussions about his work at Harvard Law School, the University of Texas, Rice University, the University of Houston Law Center, and Brooklyn Law School. He frequently offers commentary in traditional media outlets such as The Austin American-Statesman, The Texas Standard, The Texas Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and The 74.

Andrew previously worked for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Advancement Project in D.C. Along with Khem Irby, he co-chairs the Coordinating Committee of the national Dignity in Schools Campaign. He holds degrees from Howard University and Louisiana State University. Andrew is licensed to practice law in Texas and Louisiana.