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ACLU HISTORY

The national American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 by a group of men and women working to protect the rights of conscientious objectors. Today, there are affiliates in nearly every state. The ACLU of Delaware was formed in 1961.

Roger Baldwin founded the ACLU in 1920 to address a number of important civil liberties issues of the time:

• Citizens were sitting in jail for holding anti-war views
• U.S. Attorney General Palmer was conducting raids upon immigrants suspected of holding unorthodox opinions
• Racial segregation was the law of the land and violence against African Americans was routine.
• Sex discrimination was firmly institutionalized; it wasn't until 1920 that women even got the vote.
• Constitutional rights for prisoners; poor people; the homeless; the mentally ill; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and other groups were undefined.
• Perhaps most significantly, the Supreme Court had yet to uphold a single free speech claim under the First Amendment.

The ACLU was the first public interest law firm of its kind, and immediately began the work of transforming the ideals contained in the Bill of Rights into living, breathing realities.

 

 

ACLU of Delaware

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