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civil rights

(Encyclopedia)civil rights, rights that a nation's inhabitants enjoy by law. The term is broader than “political rights,” which refer only to rights devolving from the franchise and are held usually only by a c...

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

civil disobedience

(Encyclopedia)civil disobedience, refusal to obey a law or follow a policy believed to be unjust. Practitioners of civil disobedience usual base their actions on moral right and employ the nonviolent technique of p...

human rights

(Encyclopedia)human rights, universal rights held to belong to individuals by virtue of their being human, encompassing civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms, and based on the notion ...

states' rights

(Encyclopedia)states' rights, in U.S. history, doctrine based on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to ...

Equal Rights Amendment

(Encyclopedia)Equal Rights Amendment: see civil rights; feminism. ...

gay-rights movement

(Encyclopedia)gay-rights movement, organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homos...

American Civil Liberties Union

(Encyclopedia)American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Founded (1920) by such prominent figur...