Laws & Citizen Rights Archives

Feb. 12, 1793: First Fugitive Slave Act

Signed into law by President George Washington, the first Fugitive Slave Act in the United States gave owners of the enslaved the right to reclaim those who escaped.

Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film

By Emilye Crosby

On each anniversary year of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act it helped inspire, national media focus on the iconic images of “Bloody Sunday,” the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the interracial marchers, and President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. This version of history, emphasizing a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day.”

Here are 10 points to keep in mind about Selma’s civil rights history.

Bombed out cars by Jo Freeman | Zinn Education Project

‘Is This America?’: Sharecroppers Challenged Mississippi Apartheid, LBJ, and the Nation

By Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart

Fannie Lou Hamer gripped the nation with her televised testimony of being forced from her home and brutally beaten (suffering permanent kidney damage) for attempting to exercise her constitutional right to vote.

“Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings?” she asked the credentials committee at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

James Baldwin Freedom Day Selma 1964 | Zinn Education Project

Aug. 2, 1924: James Baldwin Born

James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York.

Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History

Film. Southern Poverty Law Center. 2010. 40 minutes.
This documentary shows the devastating impact of bullying on students, in this case a gay student who works with lawyers to win a precedent setting case to create a safe place for students in school.

May 2, 1963: Children of Birmingham Fill the Jails

In disciplined groups and singing freedom songs, students “ditch” class to march for justice and fill the jails.

Dec. 8, 1936: Gibbs v. Broome Leads to Pay Equity for Black Teachers

In an attempt to gain pay equity for Black teachers in Maryland, William B. Gibbs Jr. became the lead plaintiff in the NAACP’s case for pay equity in Montgomery County, a case known as Gibbs v. Broome.

Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future

Book — Non-fiction. By Jason Stanley. 2026. 272 pages.
A global call to action for those who wish to preserve democracy — in the United States and abroad — before it is too late.

March 30, 1964: Mary Hamilton Wins Honorifics in Court

Mary Hamilton's insistence on being addressed by Miss led to a Supreme Court ruling requiring honorifics for everyone in court, regardless of race or gender.

Amicus Brief for Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Case

Two historians from our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle series — Martha S. Jones and Kate Masur — filed an amicus brief challenging an executive order undermining birthright citizenship.

May 14, 1969: School Librarian’s Lawsuit Against Discrimination

Carrie Coleman Robinson, a Black school librarian in Alabama, brought a landmark case to the U.S. District Court alleging that Alabama’s Department of Education denied her equal protection as a department employee because of her race.

Liberty’s Forgotten Hero: The Revolutionary Life of James Forten

Picture book. By Kesha L. Grant, with illustrations by Anastasia Magloire Williams. 2026. 48 pages.
Tells the story of James Forten, who served in the American Revolution and then dedicated his life to fighting for the ideals set forth by the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.”

Beyond Loyalists and Patriots

Teaching Activity. By Tiferet Ani and Mimi Eisen. 2026. 27 pages.
In this mixer lesson, students surface choices and outcomes navigated by an array of Black and Indigenous people in the American Revolution to examine what freedom meant to those excluded from it at the U.S. founding.

May 15, 1948: The Palestinian Nakba

The Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) was the violent and systemic expulsion of nearly 75 percent of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland by Zionist militias and the new Israeli army in the years surrounding the establishmen of Israel in May 1948.

White Power: Policing American Slavery

Book — Non-fiction. By Gautham Rao. 2026. 320 pages.
Uncovers how slaveholders created their own white supremacist police and government to deny Black people rights, power, and humanity.

Time Period

Theme

Resource Type

Grade

Keywords