Race and Civil Rights

July 15, 2014 - In a scathing ruling issued last month, a federal judge in Alabama said she could not "conclusively" determine that the Huntsville City School District wasn't still operating an unconstitutionally segregated system -- so she refused to approve a student assignment plan that had been proposed by the school board.

July 7, 2014 - Defenders of a controversial new North Carolina election law that's being challenged by civil rights groups cite statewide vote totals to argue against any racially discriminatory suppressive effect -- but local data tell a more complicated story.

July 7, 2014 - "Labor rights are civil rights" was the message of a June 27 pro-union rally attended by 400 students, activists, ministers and workers at the Nissan plant in Canton -- the culmination of the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Conference in nearby Jackson.

July 3, 2014 - Political psychologists distinguish between "blind patriotism" that's intolerant and unquestioning and "constructive patriotism," which welcomes questioning with the hope of creating positive change. On this most patriotic of holidays, we share some of our favorite writings and songs in the spirit of the latter, and we invite you to do the same.

July 2, 2014 - Today marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended Jim Crow segregation and led to a profound political realignment of the South that continues to shape the nation today.

June 30, 2014 - As civil rights movement veterans met with young activists at last week's conference commemorating Freedom Summer, a message heard frequently was that workers' rights are at the heart of the movement today.

June 27, 2014 - This week hundreds of people gathered in Mississippi at a conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, a civil rights project that changed not only Mississippi and the South but the lives of participants.