U.S. Civil Rights: A Research Guide

Civil rights are the freedoms that a person may have as a member of a community, state, or nation. They include freedom of speech and of the press, freedom of religion, the right to own property, and the right to receive fair and equal treatment from government, other persons, and private groups. The United States Supreme Court's decisions often defines civil rights by weighing individual rights against the rights of society in general. This guide introduces the researcher to some of the basic informational sources on the topic. The terms and phrases listed in the subject headings below can be used to search for more materials in the library's catalog and research databases. If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian.

The ABC-CLIO Companion to the Civil Rights Movement by Mark Grossman. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO, 1993. ISBN: 0874366968.
Concise alphabetical entries cover the movement's major issues, landmark court decisions, organizations, and key concepts, terms, and events.

Civil Rights in the United States edited by Waldo E. Martin, Jr. and Patricia Sullivan. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference USA , 2000.
Covers civil rights issues such as its sources and movements, including the Bill of Rights, as well as critical developments such as the African-American civil rights movement of post-World War II in America .

The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America edited by David Bradley and Shelley Fisher Fishkin. 3 vols. Armonk , NY: Sharpe Reference, 1998. ISBN: 0765680009.
Covers important issues and people related to civil rights in America including: Abernathy, Ralph to Equal protection clause (vol. 1); equal rights amendment to Presidency, U.S. (vol. 2), and Price , U.S. vs. to Zoot suit riots (vol.3).

My Soul is a Witness: A Chronology of the Civil Rights Era in the United States, 1954–1965 by Bettye Collier-Thomas and V. P. Franklin. New York: Henry Holt, 2000. ISBN: 0805047697.
Includes more than 2,500 entries that illustrate the civil rights era through the thousands of people, places, and events that the Civil Rights Movement encompassed in the areas of employment, public accommodations, housing, voting rights, religion, entertainment, sports, and the military. Based on articles and reports found in The New York Times , Jet magazine, and the Southern School News .

American Women Civil Rights Activists: Biobibliographies of 68 Leaders, 1825–1992 by Gayle J. Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993. ISBN: 0899507735.
Includes women who have worked passionately for civil rights in the United States such as Elizabeth Blackwell, Mary L. Bonney, Kate Barnard, Mariana Bracetti, and Amelia Stone Quinton, to contemporary figures such as Iola M. Pohocsucut Hayden, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, and Shirley Chisholm.

Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970 by Lynne Olson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. ISBN: 0684850125.
Details the lives of the women who led the fight against lynching (Ida Wells), who organized the first sit-in at a lunch counter (Pauli Murray), who launched the Montgomery bus boycott (Jo Ann Robinson), and who were instrumental in turning the sixties civil rights crusade into a mass movement.

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“Civil Rights Movement” in Gale Encyclopedia of Popular Culture" by Leonard N. Moore.
www.findarticles.com/cf_0/g1epc/tov/2419100257/p1/article.jhtml
Provides a topical overview of the civil rights movement.

Civilrights.org
www.civilrights.org
Provides relevant and up-to-the minute civil rights news and information. A collaboration of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund.

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
www.law.umaryland.edu/edocs/usccr/html%20files/usccrhp.asp
Provides access to hundreds of documents produced by the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Hosted by the Thurgood Marshall Law Library.

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement
www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/index.htm
Produced by the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department of the Interior, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO).

American Civil Liberties Union
www.aclu.org
Aims to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Human and Civil Rights Organizations of America
www.hcr.org
A nonprofit federation that screens and certifies high quality national charities working to protect human rights and promote the liberty of all people.