September 17 is Constitution Day, and here’s a suggestion for how you might celebrate.
Gather some patriots -- cakes and ale and three-cornered hats optional -- and as a party game, see if your guests can answer some basic questions about the Constitution from a 1997 poll commissioned by the National Constitution Center. For example,
With Independence Day around the corner, we caught up with a few of this year’s speakers to get their thoughts on the Declaration of Independence, their connection to history, and celebrating at the National Archives.
By Greger Calhan, Legal Fellow, ACLU, Racial Justice Program at 12:16pm
The month of June represents a double anniversary for Mildred and Richard Loving. Two weeks ago, the Virginia couple would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. And earlier this week on June 12th, Americans celebrated the 46th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision which bears their name, Loving v. Virginia, and which recognized an equal right to marriage for all people, regardless of race.
When I was invited to give a speech in Florida this month as part of a fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, the first thing I did, of course, was to pull out my tattered copy of Gideon's Trumpet, Anthony Lewis's superb and evergreen account of the story behind the Supreme Court case guaranteeing indigent criminal defendants a right to counsel.
For nearly a century, the ACLU has been fighting back against encroachments on our civil rights and liberties wherever they take place—in courtrooms and classrooms, in the White House and in Congress. But today, like so many things in our lives, threats to our personal freedoms are moving online. That’s why the ACLU is going digital in the fight to protect them.
Today we’re thrilled to announce the launch of ACLU Action—the latest chapter in the ACLU's continuing evolution. ACLU Action is a cutting edge online organizing and digital campaigning platform that will allow you—along with hundreds of thousands of other ACLU supporters around the country—to put yourself in the center of the ACLU's work.
The Mudd Library is pleased to announce that the final two series of the third subgroup of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) records have been processed, and that the entire collection has been addressed is now available to the public.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:03pm
On Independence Day, I will have the esteemed honor of being the first African American descendant ever asked to read the Declaration of Independence as part of a longstanding July 4th tradition at the National Archives. Recently, descendants of original signers were asked to read sections of the Declaration in homage to this country’s founding fathers. As I’m sure you can well imagine, heretofore, those descendants have been white.
