News & Commentary

The march from Selma-to-Montgomery, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., is an iconic and memorable moment during the Civil Rights Movement and in U.S. History, but to understand its significance in time, it is helpful to place it in context with the South's resistance to racial integration.

If we want to understand the state of race in America, we need to know our past – particularly the painful parts.

On February 18, 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot in the stomach while unarmed and defending his mother from being beaten by law enforcement during a peaceful protest. He died on February 26 and is attributed to sparking the Selma-to-Montgomery marches that set the stage for the Voting Rights Act.

50 years ago today, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, nine White highway patrolmen opened fire on a group of unarmed Black college students who were peacefully assembled to protest a bowling alley's refusal to allow them service. This use of excessive force killed three students and wounded 27 others.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks got on a bus. After paying her fare, she sat in the “colored” section of the bus, but as the white-only seats filled up, the bus driver asked Ms. Parks and three other people to move. She refused and was arrested. With that, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.

A recently leaked FBI “Intelligence Assessment” contains troubling signs that the FBI is scrutinizing and possibly surveilling Black activists in its search for potential “extremists.”

On September 15, 1963, KKK members planted dynamite during Sunday service at the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls. This attack marked a turning point during the Civil Rights Movement. We spoke with Lisa McNair, sister of one of the girls, to discuss the importance of remembering.

In case you missed it, here are a few highlights and headlines from the past few months regarding the ACLU and our work here in Alabama.

Black Womens Equal Pay Day represents how long it would take for a black woman to make the same amount of money that the average white man made in 2016. Comparatively, black women make 63 cents on the dollar.