Civil Rights Movement Documents
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC)

[The Emergency Civil Liberties Committee was formed in 1951 to defend organizations and individuals who were being persecuted and prosecuted under the McCarran Act for their political beliefs during the McCarthy Era "Red Scare." The McCarran Act was used to suppress, persecute, and prosecute civil rights organizations and activists, labor leaders and unions, educators, peace advocates, authors, journalists, ; screen writers, and performers. Among those defended by the ECLC were were W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and NAACP members (particularly in the South).

The McCarran Act (AKA Internal Security Act and Subversive Activities Control Act) was passed into law over President Truman's veto. It required members of organizations deemed by the Attorney General to be "subversive" to register themselves with the federal government; allowed the government to question anyone considered to be a threat to national security; deport non-citizens based on their political beliefs; and indefinitely detain anyone considered dangerous to national security.without trial. Almost all of its provisions were later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.]

Rights

Rights was the primary publication of the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC).

1956 April Rights, Academic Freedom
1957 April Rights, The Un-Americans in Congress
1960 July-Aug Jesus as a Free Speech Victim, Trial by Terror 2000 Years Ago, by Clifford Durr
1962 Apr-MayRights, Challenging the McCarran Act.
1964 Feb-MarRights, Meikeljohn & Bill of Rights. Mrs. Eaton, James Baldwin, Anne Braden.
1964, MarchMrs. Eaton & James Baldwin Challenge Civil Libertarians, ECLC.
1964, JulyStatement on the Federal Governments Power to Act in Mississippi, William Ryan (D-NY). ECLC. Critique of Washington's inaction re protecting the civil rights of Blacks in the South
65 FebRights, Homage to Alexander Mieklejohn.
1965 MarchRights, Democracy on Campus. Free Speech Movement, Student Bill of Rights, Political Surveillance on Campus, HUAC.
1965 JuneRights, Report From Alabama. Selma & March to Montgomery and Student Bill of Rights.
1966 Jan-MarRights, The Draft, Vietnam, Julian Bond & GA legislature.
1966, FallRights, Police Questioning of Law Abiding Citizens, a Proposed Set of Rules. Charles Reich, Yale Law School
1966, DecRights, ECLC First 15 Years, 1951-1966
1967 SpringRights, CIA, Connor Cruise O'Brien, Douglas Dowd, Thomas Parkinson, H.H. Wilson, Warren Hinckle, Native Americans, Robert Burnett
1967 FallRights, Constitution & the poor, urban uprisings, GI resistance, Andrew Kopkind, Irving Brant, William Crain
1968, SpringRights, Government Power vs Citizen Power, CIA and National Students Association (NSA)

 


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