2005 - Keeping Religion Out of the Science ClassroomIn Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, the ACLU represented a group of parents who challenged a public school district requirement for teachers to present so-called "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in high school biology classes.

The ACLU, led by its California affiliates, stood alone in speaking out about this atrocity. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under his direction, including the Scopes Trial, the Sacco and Vanzetti murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on James Joyce's Ulysses. 1981 - Creationism in ArkansasFifty-six years after the Scopes trial, the ACLU challenged an Arkansas statute requiring that the biblical story of creation be taught as a "scientific alternative" to the theory of evolution. In the 1920s Frankfurter was the national expert on injunctions against labor unions and union organizers, which became the principal device for denying working people basic First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly. (See Frankfurter’s 1930 book, with Nathan Greene, The Labor Injunction.) Briefing papers, each on a different civil liberties issue, and other publications and information are available from the Communications Department of the ACLU's national office in New York. The most well-known event was the so-called “Palmer Raids,” which actually involved two sets of federal mass arrests of alleged radicals, in November 1919 and early January 1920. While not always in agreement with us on every issue, Americans have come to count on the ACLU for its unyielding dedication to principle. President Jimmy Carter awarded Baldwin the Medal of Freedom on 16 January 1981. National Office:American Civil Liberties Union125 Broad Street, 18th FloorNew York, NY 10004-2400(212) 549-2500E-mail: infoaclu@aclu.org. We take a look at those moments of extraordinary success, and those moments when we fell short, or failed.

Since the tragic terrorist attacks of 9/11, the ACLU has been working vigorously to oppose policies that sacrifice our fundamental freedoms in the name of national security. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 1973 - Reproductive RightsAfter decades of struggle, the Supreme Court held — in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton — that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses a woman's right to decide whether she will terminate or continue a pregnancy. 1997 - Internet Free SpeechIn ACLU v. Reno, the Supreme Court struck down the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which censored the Internet by broadly banning "indecent" speech. This undated memorandum by Roger Baldwin was probably written in early January 1920 and summarizes the work of the NCLB from October 1917 to January 1920. There he taught sociology at Washington University, worked as a social worker and became chief probation officer of the St. Louis Juvenile Court. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. In 1939, we won in the Supreme Court the right for unions to organize. He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950.

This initial meeting was devoted to organizational matters such as the budget, renting an office, arranging for a clipping service and so on. When the state of Tennessee passed a law banning the teaching of evolution, the ACLU recruited biology teacher John T. Scopes to challenge the law by teaching the banned subject in his class. The ACLU was founded to ensure the promise of the Bill of Rights and to expand its reach to people historically denied its protections. The actual business of the ACLU was conducted by an Executive Committee that met weekly (see Document #4). Whether we're standing on principle before the highest court in the land or in state and federal courthouses across America, the ACLU wins far more often than we lose.

Maintain Your Rights is an early handbill issued by the ACLU. The ACLU today is the nation's largest public interest law firm, with a 50-state network of staffed, autonomous affiliate offices. We do not receive any government funding. Member dues and contributions and grants from private foundations and individuals pay for the work we do. The ACLU is leading the demand for full accountability for those who authorized or condoned torture. "The Making of a Reformer: The Roger Baldwin Story: A Prejudiced Account by Himself," in Woody Klein, This page was last edited on 18 October 2020, at 20:22. The series traces the story of the ACLU from its founding, by the people who helped shape those events. 2009 - Protecting the Right to PrivacyIn Safford Unified School District v. Redding, the Supreme Court ruled that school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmate's uncorroborated accusation. In St. Louis, Baldwin had been greatly influenced by the socialist and anarchist Emma Goldman. He is the subject of John G. Avildsen's 1982 documentary Traveling Hopefully. "[7] In the 1940s, Baldwin led the campaign to purge the ACLU of Communist Party members. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Harvard University; afterwards, he moved to St. Louis on the advice of Louis D. Brandeis. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered all people of Japanese descent, most of whom were American citizens, be sent to “war relocation camps.” Eventually more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were sent to these internment camps. We do not defend them because we agree with them; rather, we defend their right to free expression and free assembly. Historically, the people whose opinions are the most controversial or extreme are the people whose rights are most often threatened. "Liberalism and the United Front," in Irving Talmadge (ed.). This November 1920 list of publications indicates the scope of the ACLU’s concerns in its first year. This Letter to Members of the ACLU National Committee, February 6, 1920, is probably the first official communication to ACLU members, and it describes the first work of the ACLU. ", "Series 1: Reel Contents - American Civil Liberties Union Microfilm; American Civil Liberties Union Records: Subgroup 1, The Roger Baldwin Years, MC001.01", "Roger Baldwin: Founder, American Civil Liberties Union 1884–1981, Revolutionary Pamphlets: A Collection of Writings, Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder at 93 Years Old, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roger_Nash_Baldwin&oldid=984204648, Activists for African-American civil rights, Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, Washington University in St. Louis faculty, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Dear Mr. Mudd: Did Thich Nhat Hanh Attend or Teach at Princeton University?

Baldwin was a member of the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM), which opposed American involvement in World War I. Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In December, President Harding did release a number of these prisoners. The June 1921 statement (bottom) asks people to oppose the Sterling Bill which would make it a crime to advocate the overthrow of the government by force or violence. Each time the law has been challenged by the ACLU and declared unconstitutional. In our first year, we fought the harassment and deportation of immigrants whose activism put them at odds with the authorities. with Baldwin continuing as the ACLU's first executive director.[4]. Note the concern (Item #3) about including the names of Roger Baldwin and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn because they had been prosecuted and convicted of federal crimes during the war.

Since we can't take on every worthy case, we usually select lawsuits that will have the greatest impact, cases that have the potential for breaking new ground and establishing new precedents that will strengthen American freedoms. For over 100 years, the ACLU has participated in more Supreme Court cases than any other private organization. For more of the collection that has been digitized you may browse the Finding Aid. Fight for everyone's rights – support the ACLU. We use strategic communications to educate the public about issues. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! This handbill, The Truth About the Centralia Murder Trial, February 1920, describes one of the most famous examples of the government attack on organized labor during the war and immediate post-war years. No name for a permanent organization is suggested at this time. [6] He condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny, forced labor. Our Washington, D.C., legislative office lobbies the U.S. Congress.

The decision to create the American Civil Liberties Union is recorded in these Minutes of the Conference to Reorganize the National Civil Liberties Bureau, January 12, 1920. We stood almost alone in 1942 in denouncing our governments round-up and internment in concentration camps of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans. Many now consider this one of the ACLU’s finest hours.