American Civil Liberties Union, Logan Chapter records, 1977-1994

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded in 1920 by a group of Americans concerned with protecting individual freedom. Originally known as the American Civil Liberties Bureau, the ACLU grew out of the efforts of Roger Baldwin, Norman Thomas, Crystal Eastman, and others to defend the rights of conscientious objectors during World War I. The group's opposition to Attorney General Mitchell Palmer's roundup of suspected "dissidents" of the period (the Palmer Raids) marked the beginning of the ACLU and its long history of involvement in Bill of Rights issues. Protecting the constitutional rights of the poor, minorities, immigrants, homosexuals, and other disadvantaged peoples became a top priority for the organization. Famous cases having ACLU support include the Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925), the Ulysses censorship case (1933), Brown v. the Board of Education (1954), many civil rights cases in the 1960s, and the decriminalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973).

Today the ACLU's principal mandate is to continue to assure the protection of individual rights for all Americans as stipulated in the Bill of Rights. This is primarily achieved through the legal, legislative, and educational efforts of ACLU staff members across the nation. The organization has affiliates in all 50 states and over 300 chapters in many smaller localities throughout the U.S. The national headquarters of the ACLU is located in New York City. Although affiliates collaborate with the national office in pursuit of common goals, local chapters have autonomy in terms of what cases and issues they choose to follow.

The ACLU Logan Chapter has been carrying out the national mandate on the local level for many years. From its inception, the organization steered itself toward issues of obvious local concern such as the separation of church and state. In 1977 the Logan Chapter participated in a suit against the Logan School District for granting school credit for attending religious classes. (See Mss Coll #56, The Papers of the American Civil Liberties Union Versus the Logan School District.) While this case has been the most visible one involving the Logan Chapter, it was just one of many first amendment cases addressed by chapter members over the years. Other less-celebrated local cases include the Norma Keene case and the E.J. Nixon case, both of which involved civil rights issues.

Much of the Logan Chapter's activity has been in a less formal, "watchdog" capacity. Minutes of monthly chapter and board meetings reflect frequent letters to the editor and more formal letter writing campaigns. Simple written complaints, as opposed to lengthy litigation, appear to have settled many of the local civil liberties issues raised by ACLU members.

Sources:

Schapsmeier, Edward L. and Frederick Schapsmeier. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions: Political Parties and Civic Action Groups. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1981.

"ACLU Briefing Paper #1," American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Network, 1997, http://www.aclu.org/library/pbp1.html (February 15, 2000).