Topic: Civil Liberties

Jun 7,

1892

Homer Plessy Boards East Louisiana Railroad Car – Trip Ends at Supreme Court

Apr 25,

1906

William J. Brennan, Jr., Future Supreme Court Justice, is Born

Nov 20,

1910

Pauli Murray, Civil Rights and Feminist Activist, is Born

Nov 11,

1915

Pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Founded

Jan 29,

1916

Louis Brandeis Nominated for Supreme Court

May 18,

1917

Congress Creates World War I Draft: Protests, Civil Liberties Violations Follow

Mar 1,

1919

National Civil Liberties Bureau Issues Comprehensive Report on WW I Rights Violations

Jul 4,

1919

Police Threats Cancel Civil Liberties Bureau Meeting at Carnegie Hall

Jan 16,

1920

Prohibition Begins – Civil Liberties Abuses Follow

Jan 19,

1920

ACLU Founded – Fight For Civil Liberties Begins

May 5,

1920

Sacco and Vanzetti Arrested: Famous Controversial Case Begins

May 28,

1920

Prominent Lawyers Issue Report Condemning Palmer Raids

Apr 29,

1922

“Children’s Crusade:” Families of Political Prisoners Picket White House Seeking Amnesty

Oct 13,

1926

Right-Wing General Charges ACLU is “Moscow Controlled” – ACLU Demands Evidence

Jul 8,

1928

Crystal Eastman, Civil Liberties Pioneer, Dies

Jan 15,

1929

Martin Luther King, Jr. is Born

Nov 24,

1930

U.S. The “Most Lawless” Country in the World, Says Top ACLU Official

Feb 2,

1931

First Mass Deportations of Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles

Mar 21,

1934

Rep. Oscar De Priest Challenges Segregation at Capitol Building Restaurant

Jun 6,

1936

Senate Launches Investigation of Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor

Nov 29,

1936

State Senator Calls Cornell University “Center of Revolutionary Propaganda”

Dec 30,

1936

Courts Peril Democracy, Argues Former New Deal Official

Feb 20,

1937

National Lawyers Guild, Alternative to ABA, is Organized

Aug 14,

1938

ABA Creates Bill of Rights Committee

Jan 26,

1939

New York State Bar Association Creates Civil Liberties Committee

Feb 2,

1939

Attorney General Frank Murphy Creates DOJ Civil Liberties Unit

Jan 18,

1940

Frank Murphy, Civil Libertarian, Joins Supreme Court

Feb 21,

1940

Civil Rights Leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis is Born in Troy, Alabama

Mar 14,

1940

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Endorses Civil Liberties

Jan 27,

1941

California Creates Un-American Activities Committee

Feb 6,

1942

Attorney General Biddle Urges Lawyers to Defend Civil Liberties in Wartime

Feb 19,

1942

Tragedy: FDR Authorizes Japanese-American Evacuation

Apr 14,

1944

WW II “Great Sedition Trial” Begins

Jan 3,

1945

HUAC Made a Permanent Committee – Assault on Freedom of Belief and Association Continues

Apr 27,

1946

Civil Rights Congress Formed

Mar 12,

1947

Cold War Begins: Truman Doctrine Announced

Apr 9,

1947

The First Freedom Ride: Journey of Reconciliation Begins

Jan 12,

1948

Supreme Court Requires Oklahoma to Provide Equal Law School Opportunity for African-Americans

Feb 2,

1948

President Truman Delivers Civil Rights Message to Congress

Apr 8,

1948

Southern Leaders Attack President Truman’s 1948 Civil Rights Speech

Jan 21,

1950

“Fear Obscures Reason,” Justice Hugo Black Warns of Cold War Hysteria

Feb 20,

1950

Senator Joe McCarthy Claims List of 81 Communists in Government

Sep 3,

1950

Into the Quagmire: First U.S. Military Assistance Group Arrives in Vietnam

May 14,

1951

HUAC Publishes “Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications”

Jan 2,

1952

It “Shocks the Conscience:” Police Forcibly Pump Suspect’s Stomach

Jan 13,

1952

Cold War: “The Black Silence of Fear”

Jan 21,

1953

And When He was Good . . . . : Herbert Brownell, Jr., Becomes Attorney General

Feb 10,

1953

Theodore Schroeder, Early Free Speech Advocate, Dies

Feb 18,

1954

Cover-up: CIA Not Required to Report Criminal Conduct

Apr 22,

1954

Army-McCarthy Hearings Begin – McCarthy Destroys Himself

Nov 11,

1956

ACLU Releases Pioneering Report on Academic Freedom for Students

Feb 8,

1957

Free Speech Scholar Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Dies

May 17,

1957

“Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom:” 1957 Civil Rights March on Washington

Sep 25,

1957

President Eisenhower Sends Troops to Little Rock to Enforce Integration

Jul 11,

1958

Mildred and Richard Loving Rousted Out of Bed, Arrested For Being Married

Jan 20,

1960

Hollywood Blacklist Broken – Producer Otto Preminger Credits Dalton Trumbo for “Exodus” Script

Feb 1,

1960

Greensboro, NC Sit-In — Civil Rights Struggle Enters Historic New Phase

Jan 9,

1961

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, First African-Americans to Enroll at University of Georgia

Jan 27,

1961

Activist Frank Kameny Brings First Gay Rights Case to the Supreme Court

May 14,

1961

Jim Peck, Freedom Rider, Assaulted in Alabama

Jan 26,

1962

Catholic Bishop Bans The Twist

May 3,

1963

Fire Hoses and Police Dogs Attack Birmingham Civil Right Demonstrators

Jun 11,

1963

George Wallace “Stands in the Schoolhouse Door” to Block Integration; Then Steps Aside

Nov 26,

1963

LBJ: “What the Hell’s the Presidency For?”

Jun 10,

1964

Historic Filibuster Ends – Path Cleared for 1964 Civil Rights Act

Jan 4,

1965

Free Speech Movement Hold First “Legal” Rally

Jan 15,

1965

LBJ Calls Martin Luther King – Plan Voting Rights Strategy

Apr 17,

1965

Mattachine Society Pickets White House to Demand Equal Rights for Homosexuals

May 20,

1966

“The Big Snoop:” Life Magazine Cover Story Exposes Government Spying

Jan 9,

1967

Civil Rights Leader Julian Bond Sworn in as Georgia State Legislator

Apr 3,

1968

King’s Final Speech: “I Have Been to the Mountaintop”

Apr 18,

1968

Attorney General Ramsey Clark Criticizes Chicago Mayor Daley’s “Shoot to Kill” Order

Jan 7,

1969

Governor Reagan: Drive “Anarchists” and “Latter Day Fascists” Off California Campuses

Feb 5,

1969

“Nude-In:” Grinnell College Students Protest Playboy Magazine

Oct 22,

1971

“A Civil Liberties Disaster” – New York Civil Liberties Union Attacks Procedures in Police Corruption Probe

May 7,

1973

The “Family Jewels:” CIA Director Orders Full Report on CIA Misdeeds

Jan 14,

1975

HUAC Abolished; 37 Years of Civil Liberties Violations Finally Ends

Feb 19,

1976

President Ford Officially Rescinds Japanese-American Evacuation Order

May 21,

1976

Candidate Jimmy Carter Opposes Discrimination Against Homosexuals

Mar 5,

1977

President Carter Names Patricia Derian Coordinator for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs

Jan 16,

1981

ACLU’s Roger Baldwin and Earl Warren Awarded Medal of Freedom

Mar 8,

1981

Groups Organize to Combat Reagan Administration Attacks on Civil Liberties

Aug 31,

1981

Final Testament: ACLU Founder Baldwin Says “Assert Your Rights or Lose Them”

Jul 1,

1985

Pauli Murray, Civil Rights Pioneer, Feminist, Civil Libertarian, Dies

Oct 11,

1987

National Coming Out Day – March in Washington

Jan 24,

1993

Civil Rights Giant Thurgood Marshall Dies

Oct 21,

1994

U.S. Ratifies UN Convention Against Racial Discrimination

Jul 23,

1999

Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., Civil Rights Hero, Dies

Feb 2,

2001

John Ashcroft, Hostile to Civil Liberties, Becomes Attorney General

Sep 11,

2001

Terrorists Attack U.S. – War on Terrorism, Violations of Civil Liberties Escalate

Oct 26,

2001

Congress Passes the USA PATRIOT Act – Civil Liberties Violations Follow

Jan 2,

2006

Frank Wilkinson, Anti-HUAC Activist, Dies

Feb 17,

2006

Tule Lake WW II Internment Center Designated a National Historic Landmark

Jan 29,

2009

President Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into Law

Jul 1,

2017

Norman Dorsen, Civil Liberties Giant, ACLU Leader, Dies

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