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Online Links to Civil Rights Resources

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Rights of the People

On this page:
Individual Rights | Race and the Civil Rights Movement | Disability Rights | Online Links

Individual Rights

We Hold These Truths to be Self-evident...
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Programs. A chapter from "Introduction to Human Rights". The United States is a nation founded on the principle of individual rights, and yet Americans' notions of rights continue to expand even today. This essay on American history highlights the obstacles that were overcome and the laws and leaders that have pushed the concept forward.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/hrintro/wehold.htm

Rights of the People: Individual Freedom and the Bill of Rights
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Programs. This publication explains how the core concepts of individual liberty and individual rights have evolved under the U.S. legal system down the present day.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/rightsof/

The Critical Balance: Individual Rights and National Security in Uncertain Times
By Mark Blitz, Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California from "September 11 One Year Later", a special electronic journal of the U.S. Department of State, September 2002. The government's efforts to prevent another round of terrorist attacks have raised a welter of complex constitutional issues that are being decided by U.S. courts and debated by legal scholars.
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0902/ijge/gj04.htm

Race and the Civil Rights Movement

Law and Race in the United States
Background reading on Race in U.S. legal history, with links to relevant documents
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/society/rights/lawrace.htm

Toward One America: A National Conversation on Race
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs. Electronic Journal, August 1997.
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0897/ijse/ijse0897.htm

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
from Outline of American History. U.S. Department of State.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/history/ch11.htm#originso

The Civil Rights Movement and the Legacy of Martin Luther King
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/civilrts/

Major Features of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
CongressLink.org. Article describes the social and political conditions that generated the Civil Rights Act. Includes the chronology of the passage of the Act.
http://www.congresslink.org/civil/essay.html

Disability Rights

Enabling Equality: An Overview
Minnesota Department of Human Rights, 2000. An article from their newsletter providing an overview of progress and problems in the ten years since the passage of the ADA and the struggle for the rights of Americans with disabilities.
http://www.humanrights.state.mn.us/acc_disc_over.html

The ADA: Your Employment Rights as an Individual With a Disability
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This page explains the part of the ADA that prohibits job discrimination.
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/ada18.html

A Guide to Disability Rights Laws
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, May 2002. This guide provides an overview of Federal civil rights laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/cguide.htm

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Statutory Language and Recent Issues
Congressional Research Service Report, April 23, 2003.
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/society/rights/ada.pdf

Americans with Disabilities Act: Questions and Answers
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Updated August 23, 2002.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/q%26aeng02.htm

Disability Rights Movement Timeline
U.S. Department of Transportation. Provides a brief history of the movement from 1817 through 1996.
http://www.fta.dot.gov/9889_ENG_HTML.htm

Online Links to Civil Rights Resources

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