Laws & Citizen Rights Archives

March 9, 1964: New York Times Co. v. Sullivan Supreme Court Ruling

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects newspapers that print inaccurate statements, as long as no “actual malice” was intended, thereby upholding freedom of speech and severely limiting public officials from suing for defamation.

Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel

Book — Non-fiction. By Bettina Aptheker. 2006. 375 pages.
An uncompromising account of one woman’s personal and political transformation, and a fascinating portrayal of the McCarthy trials, the Vietnam War, and the rise of the women’s movement.

book cover showing freedom riders protesting near a bus

A Young People’s History of the United States: Revised and Updated

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with additions by Ed Morales. 2022. 544 pages.
A young adult version of the best-selling A People’s History of the United States, ideal for 6th through 9th grade students.

April 21, 1937: Congressman Ordered to Jim Crow Section of Train

Illinois congressman Arthur W. Mitchell was ordered to move to the Jim Crow car of the train once it entered Arkansas.

May 8, 1858: John Brown and Constitutional Convention

John Brown, Martin Delany, and others gathered for a Constitutional Convention in Chatham, Canada.

May 12, 1968: The Poor People’s Campaign Began

The Poor People’s Campaign was a multiracial effort to gain economic justice for poor people.

April 11, 1835: Thaddeus Stevens Gives Speech in Defense of Free Schools Act

Thaddeus Stevens gave a speech in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in defense of the Free Schools Act of 1834, which moved the state House to vote against repeal and the Senate to take another vote in support of free public schools.

The Essential Mario Savio: Speeches and Writings that Changed America

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Robert Cohen, with a foreword by Tom Hayden and an afterword by Robert Reich. 2014. 320 pages.

July 6, 1798: Alien Enemies Act Signed Into Law

The Alien Enemies Act, one of four laws enacted in 1798 known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts, permits the president to target, detain, and deport people in the United States based on their citizenship and nationality without due process.

Japanese American Internment Featured Image

A Lesson on the Japanese American Internment

Teaching Activity. By Mark Sweeting. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
How one teacher engaged his students in a critical examination of the language used in textbooks to describe the internment.

May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act Signed

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was signed, prohibiting Chinese immigration to the United States.

Executive Order 9066 | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 19, 1942: Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt authorized the incarceration (internment) of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.

May 16, 1918: The Sedition Act of 1918 Enacted

The Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted to extend the Espionage Act of 1917. It forbade the use of “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the U.S. government.

A colorful painting of people being deported back to Mexico, by Kaelyn Savard.

Deportations on Trial: Mexican Americans During the Great Depression

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
In this lesson, students analyze who is to blame for the illegal, mass deportations of Mexican Americans and immigrants during the Great Depression.

Teaching Activity by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

Oct. 26, 2001: PATRIOT Act Signed

President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act, which rolled back civil liberties for U.S. citizens and immigrants.

March 3, 1807: Thomas Jefferson Signs Insurrection Act Into Law

President Thomas Jefferson put his signature on the law known as the Insurrection Act.

May 3, 1913: California’s Alien Land Law Enacted

California enacted the Alien Land Law to bar Asian immigrants from owning or leasing land. These restrictions, and others imposed later, remained in place through both World Wars.

Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America

Book — Non-fiction. By Martha S. Jones. 2018. 266 pages.
The story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses.

Oct. 25, 1977: Puerto Rican Nationalists Occupy Statue of Liberty

Puerto Rican nationalists and their supporters occupied the Statue of Liberty, hanging the Puerto Rican flag from Lady Liberty’s crown and demanding the release of five U.S.-held Puerto Rican political prisoners.

Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back

Book — Non-fiction. By Joshua Clark Davis. 2025. 424 pages.
An examination of the civil rights struggle through its work against police violence — and a prehistory of both the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements that emerged half a century later.

The Knotted Line

Website. Interactive timeline that connects moments in history related to the prison industrial complex.

Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
In this mixer lesson, students meet 27 different targets of government harassment and repression to analyze why disparate individuals might have become targets of the same campaign, determining what kind of threat they posed in the view of the U.S. government.

Legalize Black Education: The Battle Against Black Education Suppression Laws

Teaching Activity. By Jesse Hagopian. 2025. 38 pages.
This lesson explores major examples of laws passed to suppress Black education in the wake of major victories for the Black Freedom Struggle, highlighting the historical context and motivations behind these legislative efforts.

Teaching Activity by Jesse Hagopian

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