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Civil Rights and Race Relations in America and Their Impact on the Lives of African Americans

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  • The Next Generation of Civil Rights Leaders

    3/03/11
    Source: 
    The Huffington Post

    In celebration of Black History Month, we at the New York Urban League brought together four next-generation leaders to talk about the state of the civil rights movement in the 21st century.

    What unfolded was a provocative conversation that touched on many themes such as class, equity, apathy and honoring our elders. In two hours, we developed few solutions, but it was evident that, contrary to negative stereotypes, 20- and 30-year-olds genuinely care about their communities.

    The Civil Rights Struggle is More Complex

  • LA Times: Rights group takes a step-by-step approach on gay marriage

    3/02/11
    Source: 
    The Los Angeles Times

    Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, is arguing that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against gay couples who are already legally married. It hopes its incremental approach will lead to a broader ruling by the Supreme Court.

    Two years ago, a small and little-known civil rights group in Boston launched a legal attack on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a legal union between a man and woman. But it did not argue that gays and lesbians have a right to marry under the Constitution.

  • Reading Thurgood Marshall’s early letters

    2/24/11
    Source: 
    The St. Louis American

    There is nothing quite like a major figure from history speaking to us directly. This is the experience we have when reading Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall (Amistad, 2011).

  • NYT: Is Anyone Watching?

    2/23/11
    Source: 
    The New York Times

    Two years ago, the Supreme Court looked over a cliff and decided not to jump. The question was whether a core section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as renewed by Congress in 2006 for another 25 years, was constitutional. A majority opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. strongly suggested that it wasn’t.

  • Former LDF intern edits new Columbia Journal of Race and Law

    2/18/11
    Source: 
    Columbia Law School
    The Columbia Journal of Race and Law, whose editor-in-chief is Sheila Adams (Columbia Law, '11), made its official debut today.  Sheila is a current Warren Scholarship recipient and a former Summer LDF Law Intern.