History
June 30, 2017 -
In his famous July 4 speech delivered 165 years ago, abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, "With brave men, there is always a remedy for oppression." Now is the time for Congress to be brave for democracy and vote to restore the eviscerated Voting Rights Act.
May 19, 2017 -
The Supreme Court ruled 63 years ago this week in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Today, integration gains are being eroded by voucher programs that use public money to support private schools — and the Trump administration wants to expand those programs dramatically.
May 19, 2017 -
For more than 50 years, Bob Hall has been a central force in the struggle for a more just and democratic South. On the cusp of his retirement, he speaks with Facing South about his history in the movement and his advice for today's organizers and activists.
March 30, 2017 -
At the time of his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee, preparing to march with the city's striking sanitation workers. Labor protests on the anniversary of his death next week will continue the work he was doing during his final days to connect race and class.
March 24, 2017 -
Florida has the harshest felon disenfranchisement law in the country, but it's now being challenged by a ballot initiative campaign led by a former felon as well as by a class-action lawsuit.
February 3, 2017 -
U.S. civil rights activists didn't only address the oppression of people of color at home — they also helped strike down the country's race-based immigrant quota system that privileged Europeans. The immigration law they helped enact is now being used to challenge President Trump's Muslim ban.
January 5, 2017 -
As U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama prepares for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, civil rights groups are working to block his nomination, citing his poor record on civil rights and role in targeting African-American voting rights activists.