August
Aug 1
1919

J. Edgar Hoover Appointed Head of General Intelligence Division; Prepares for Palmer Raids

 
1921

New York Motion Picture Commission Begins Work – Censorship Ahead

 
1925

African-American Lawyers Form National Bar Association

 
1943

Harlem Race Riot Signals Rising African-American Discontent

 
1951

Radio Artists Bar Communists from Membership – ACLU Protests

 
1953

Native-American Tribal Termination Policy Begins

 
1963

President Kennedy Denounces U.S. Travelers to Cuba as “Communists”

 
1978

Midge Costanza, Carter Administration Rights Advocate, Resigns

 
2002

Infamous “Torture Memo” Drafted by Bush Administration

 
2007

Candidate Obama Endorses Civil Liberties in the War on Terrorism – As President, Ignores His Earlier Speech

Aug 2
1924

Noted African-American Author James Baldwin is Born

 
1937

Marijuana Tax Act Passed – War on Drugs Escalates

 
1950

CIA Begins Covert, Secret and Corrupt Relationship With National Student Association

 
1955

ACLU Wins Passports for Two Who Were Denied, One for No Reason and One for a Bad Reason

 
1964

First Gulf of Tonkin Incident — Government Lies to Justify Vietnam Escalation

Aug 3
1922

“Plan to Censor All New Literature”

 
1929

Stromberg Arrested for Violating California Red Flag Law

 
1942

Military Tribunal Convicts German Saboteurs – Civil Liberties Problems Continue

 
1972

Long Island Community Blocked from Enforcing Ban on Multiple Occupancy of Rental House

 
1982

Michael Hardwick Arrested in Bed for Sodomy Law Violation – Heads to Supreme Court

Aug 4
1937

Police Raids Force Closing of Massachusetts Birth Control Clinics

 
1950

Paul Robeson’s Passport Suspended; Trip Blocked

 
1960

FBI COINTELPRO Memo Orders Disruption of Puerto Rican Independence Organizations

 
1961

Clarence Gideon Convicted – Begins Road to Supreme Court

 
1964

Bodies of Murdered Civil Rights Workers Found

 
1973

Supreme Court Refuses to Halt U.S. Military Operations in Cambodia

 
1975

NJ Supreme Court Rules Non-Dangerous Criminally Insane Cannot be Detained

 
1984

A Bizarre Warning: NSA Warns of “Peril” of Electronic Surveillance

Aug 5
1968

CIA Memo Explains Co-opting Universities, Professors

 
1972

Lawyers Group Accuses Nixon Justice Department of Failing to Enforce Equal Protection Clause

 
1974

White House Releases Incriminating “Smoking Gun” Tape Recordings – Nixon Resigns Four Days Later

 
1983

Women’s Groups Criticize Reagan Administration Interpretation of Title IX

Aug 6
1929

University of Pittsburgh Ordered to Reinstate Student Expelled for Membership in Liberal Club

 
1938

Top Labor Union Lawyer Denounces American Bar Association

 
1954

“Girl Scout Handbook” Subversive?

 
1960

Candidate John F. Kennedy Calls for Immigration Reform

 
1965

LBJ Signs Historic Voting Rights Act

Aug 7
1934

Americans Can Finally Read “Ulysses” – Court Ends Ban

 
1950

Artist Rockwell Kent Denied Passport Extension

 
1958

Playwright Arthur Miller’s HUAC Contempt Conviction Overturned

 
1964

Congress Passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – False Claims Justify Vietnam Escalation

Aug 8
1925

KKK Stages Huge March of 35,000 in Washington, D.C.

 
1942

Six German Saboteurs Executed — Civil Liberties Questions Live On

 
1945

President Truman Signs United Nations Charter

 
1969

President Nixon Extends Affirmative Action in Federal Employment

 
1984

President Reagan’s “Mexico City Policy” Bans Abortion Aid Overseas

 
1999

Former President Ford Endorses Affirmative Action

 
2009

Sonia Sotomayor Joins Supreme Court; First Hispanic Justice

Aug 9
1917

Suffragist Pickets Seek Exemption from Espionage Act Prosecution

 
1919

Bill in Congress to Grant Native-Americans Full U.S. Citizenship

 
1931

Group Criticizes Lack of Asylum for Political Refugees

 
1953

ACLU Defends Federal Civil Rights Investigations

 
1974

President Nixon Resigns in Disgrace

 
2014

Unarmed Michael Brown Shot and Killed by Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer – Nationwide Protests Follow

Aug 10
1918

A. Philip Randolph, Future Civil Rights Giant, Arrested for Distributing Anti-War Magazine in Cleveland

 
1931

Wickersham Commission: First-Ever Report on Police Brutality

 
1938

Anti-Discrimination Clause Added to New York Constitution

 
1957

End of an Era in Censorship – Boston Watch and Ward Society Gives Up

 
1970

Rep. Shirley Chisholm Speaks Out For the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

 
1988

Justice for Japanese-Americans: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988

 
1993

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Civil Libertarian, Feminist, Joins Supreme Court

 
2009

Illinois Creates Torture Commission To Provide Reparations for Chicago Police Brutality Victims

 
2012

First Lesbian/Gay Brigadier General in U. S. Military

Aug 11
1917

“Kaiser Wilson” – Suffragists Picket White House

 
1934

Prominent Lawyers Protest Vigilante Raids Against Alleged Radicals in San Francisco

 
1938

“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?” First HUAC Hearings Begin – 37-Years of Inquisitions Follow

 
1943

Conscientious Objectors Begin Prison Hunger Strike to Protest Racial Segregation

 
1958

Early Wichita Sit-in Successful

 
1961

Justice Department Lifts 30-Year Customs Ban on “Tropic of Cancer”

 
1980

Democratic Party Platform Supports Homosexual Rights For the First Time

 
1981

80 Gay Men Discuss AIDS Crisis in Larry Kramer’s Living Room

 
1984

Equal Access Act Becomes Law; Gives Religious Groups Equal Access to Public School Facilities

 
2000

President Clinton Orders Services for People With Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

Aug 12
1922

Groups Launch “War on Censorship”

 
1923

Report Condemns Violations of Rights of Miners in Coal Fields

 
1937

Hugo Black Nominated for Supreme Court

 
1954

New York Film Censors Okay Scene of Birth of a Calf in Disney Nature Movie

 
1955

A.D.A. Head Proclaims (Somewhat Prematurely) “End of the McCarthy Era”

 
1965

Dr. Martin Luther King Opposes Vietnam War

 
1982

Long Island, NY, School Board Voluntarily Returns Banned Books to School Library

 
2013

NYC Police’s Stop and Frisk Practices Ruled Unconstitutional

Aug 13
1917

Socialist Party Authorizes Anti-War Leaflets – Leads to Landmark Supreme Court Case

 
1918

First Woman Enlists in U.S. Marines

 
1950

NYC Police Ban Peace Rally – NYCLU Protests

 
1951

ACLU Defends Right of NYC Police to Form a Union

 
1957

First African-American Family Moves into Levittown, PA – Is Greeted by Threats, Harassment & Cross Burnings

 
1981

“Heckler’s Veto” – NYC Mayor Koch Bans Rugby Match by South African Team

Aug 14
1908

Springfield, Illinois, Race Riot – Spurs Organization of NAACP

 
1921

Postmaster General Hays Disavows Role of Censor

 
1927

Boston Police Halt Sacco and Vanzetti Rally

 
1938

ABA Creates Bill of Rights Committee

 
1938

HUAC: Communist Activities “Rampant” in Hollywood

 
1942

Justice Dept. to Investigate Beating of African-American Soldier by Texas Police

 
1948

States’ Rights Party Adopts Pro-Segregation Platform

Aug 15
1924

Phyllis Schlafly, Anti-Feminist Leader, Born

 
1967

CIA Begins Spying on Anti-Vietnam War Movement – Under LBJ’s Orders

 
1973

ACLU Backs Klan’s Right to Meet in Public Park

 
2013

NSA Broke its Own Rules “Thousands of Times a Year”

Aug 16
1957

Stamford, Connecticut, Launches Anti-Obscene Magazine Campaign

 
1965

LA Rioters Granted the “Precious Right” to Bail

 
1966

Disorder Erupts as HUAC Investigates Anti-Vietnam War Movement

 
1971

“To Screw Our Enemies” – Memo to President Nixon Leads to Infamous “Enemies List”

 
1977

President Carter Names Frank Johnson, Famed Civil Rights Judge, to Head FBI

 
2018

News Media Fight Back Against Trump: Celebrate Freedom of the Press

Aug 17
1915

Leo Frank Lynched – Anti-Semitism Rises

 
1940

Rabbi Warns of Wartime Threat to American Liberties

 
1945

George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” Published; Savage Critique of Totalitarianism

 
1966

“Riotous” HUAC Hearings – Witnesses’ Lawyer Evicted

 
1968

Aspen, Colorado, Hippies Charge Police Harassment

 
1969

Activist Lawyers Establish “Unconventional” Law Firm

 
2011

Melvin Dwork’s Navy Discharge for Being Gay, Changed to “Honorable” — 68 Years Later

Aug 18
1920

Women Get the Vote – 19th Amendment Ratified

 
1933

Jewish Paper Protests American Publication of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”

 
1939

“The Grapes of Wrath” Banned in Kansas City, Kansas

 
1946

20,000 Attend Fundraiser for Isaac Woodard, Blinded in Racist Attack in South Carolina

 
1955

Pete Seeger Asserts First Amendment Right at HUAC Hearing

 
1961

Learned Hand, Judge in Rare World War I Free Speech Victory, Dies at Age 89

 
1962

Sherrie Finkbein Has Abortion in Sweden – Case Forces National Attention on Abortion Rights

 
1997

First Women Enroll at Virginia Military Institute (VMI)

Aug 19
1953

CIA-engineered Coup Overthrows Government in Iran

 
1958

NAACP Youth Council Conducts Early Sit-in in Oklahoma City

 
1964

U.S. Group Returns from Illegal Visit to Cuba

 
1971

Nixon White House Requests Bogus FBI Investigation of Daniel Schorr

 
2004

Sen. Ted Kennedy Caught by “No-Fly” List

Aug 20
1916

Cincinnati Vice Commission Attacks Dreiser’s “The Genius”

 
1944

Navy Bans Japanese-American Citizens – ACLU Protests

 
1950

Grand Jury Criticizes ACLU Report on Peekskill Anti-Communist Riot

 
1953

Kinsey Report on Sexual Behavior of Women to be Published

 
1954

Compelled Testimony: President Eisenhower Signs Bill to Limit Fifth Amendment

Aug 21
1923

President Coolidge Defends Free Speech, Except When . . .

 
1927

Hundreds of Writers, Activists Petition for Stay of Sacco-Vanzetti Execution

 
1934

Forum Hears About Civil Liberties Violations in 1934 San Francisco General Strike

 
1948

ACLU Officials Roger Baldwin and Arthur Garfield Hays Invited to Advise U.S. Government on German Occupation

 
1955

Houston Claims Success in Anti-Rock and Roll Campaign

 
1984

First Girl Plays in Little League World Series

Aug 22
1918

Jacobs Abrams Distributes Radical Leaflets – Heads to First Amendment History

 
1922

DOJ Raids Communist Meeting in Bridgman, Michigan

 
1924

Clarence Darrow Delivers Monumental Closing Argument Against the Death Penalty

 
1941

American Federation of Teachers Bars Three Local Chapters for Communist Associations

 
1964

Fannie Lou Hamer Delivers Historic Speech at Democratic Party Convention

Aug 23
1888

Morris L. Ernst, First Amendment and Reproductive Rights Pioneer, is Born

 
1917

Socialist Mayor of Minneapolis Promises to Protect Rights of Anti-war People’s Council

 
1927

Sacco and Vanzetti Executed

 
1950

U.S. Senate Brands Famous Italian Film Director Rossellini a “Fascist”

 
1956

Stamp Out Orgasms! Government Seizes and Burns the Work of Dr. Wilhelm Reich

 
1977

Massachusetts Governor Dukakis Declares Sacco and Vanzetti Day

Aug 24
1930

Carrie Chapman Catt, Suffrage Leader, Reflects on First Ten Years of Women Voting

 
1936

FDR Authorizes FBI to Resume Political Spying

 
1945

Spying on Americans: Project Shamrock Begins

 
1954

Banned: Congress Outlaws Communist Party

 
1972

Hippies in the Bureau? FBI Ordered to Allow Agents to Have Long Hair

 
2015

Televangelist Pat Robertson Blames Planned Parenthood for Stock Market Crash

Aug 25
1914

Margaret Sanger Indicted for Three Issues of “Woman Rebel”

 
1945

John Birch Dies – Right-Wing Group Named in His Honor

 
1950

31 University of California Faculty Fired in Loyalty Oath Controversy

 
1959

Jazz Great Miles Davis Beaten by NYC Police

 
1964

FBI Spies on Civil Rights Groups at Democrats’ Convention — Under Orders from President Johnson

 
1967

J. Edgar Hoover Authorizes COINTELPRO Action Against Black Panther Party

 
2006

Selma-to-Montgomery Historic Trail Opens

Aug 26
1921

Naomi Parker Fraley, The Real WWII “Rosie the Riveter,” Born

 
1955

“Blackboard Jungle” Removed as U.S. Entry in Venice Film Festival

 
1963

First Unauthorized Traveler to Cuba Returns, Faces Federal Charges

 
1970

March Commemorates Women’s Suffrage

 
1977

Alice Paul Memorial March for Women’s Rights

 
1981

Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder, Dies

 
1988

Candidate George H.W. Bush Attacks Dukakis as “Card-Carrying” ACLU Member

 
2016

NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick Refuses to Stand During National Anthem, Inspires a Movement

Aug 27
1943

American Bar Association Admits First African-American in Three Decades

 
1949

Peekskill, New York: Anti-Communist Riot Blocks Robeson Concert

 
1952

U.S. Attorney in Cleveland Asks Court’s Okay to Burn Two Books

 
1953

A.G. Brownell Calls Lawyers Guild “Legal Mouthpiece” of the Communist Party

 
1963

W. E. B. Du Bois, African-American Intellectual Giant, Dies

 
1985

Indianapolis Anti-Pornography Law Struck Down

Aug 28
1955

Emmett Till, 14, Murdered in Mississippi

 
1957

Six Victims of 1692 Salem Witch Trials “Cleared” by Massachusetts Legislature

 
1963

John Lewis’ Speech at March on Washington Censored

 
1963

“I Have a Dream”: King Delivers Historic Speech at March on Washington

 
1968

“Police Riot” at Democratic Party Convention

 
1987

Reagan Administration Bars Visas to People with HIV

 
2011

Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Dedicated

Aug 29
1929

President Hoover Declines to Pardon WW I Political Prisoners

 
1933

A Rabbi, A Priest, and a Minister: “Tolerance Trio” Begins Nationwide Tour

 
1952

Frank Wilkinson Declines to Answer Questions About Political Associations, Is Fired, Begins Civil Liberties Career

 
1970

Chicano Leader Ruben Salazar Shot and Killed at Protest Rally

 
2013

$52.6 Billion: U.S. Secret “Black Budget” for 16 Intelligence Agencies Exposed

Aug 30
1910

Clarence Gideon, Plaintiff in Major Right to an Attorney Case, is Born

 
1949

Gen. MacArthur Cancels Margaret Sanger Visit to Japan

 
1965

LBJ Signs Draft Card-Burning Law

 
1966

Constance Baker Motley: First African-American Woman as District Court Judge

 
1967

NOW Pickets New York Times to Protest Sex-Segregated Job Ads

Aug 31
1917

Anti-War Groups Can’t Find City for National Meeting

 
1918

DOJ Raids National Civil Liberties Bureau Office, Seizes Records

 
1963

Robert Bork, Yale Law Professor, Opposes Civil Rights Bill

 
1975

Long Island Communities Fight “Groupers,” Limit Number of Unrelated Individuals in Households

 
1981

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

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Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

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