Civil Rights and Social Justice

    Join Us. Whatever your area of specialization, CRSJ has a place for you. The Section fulfills our role by: raising and addressing often complex and difficult civil rights and civil liberties issues in a changing and diverse society; and ensuring that protection of individual rights remains a focus of legal and policy decisions.

    Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Webinar Series

    In this engaging series, we will dive into the experiences of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities along with the social, political, and economic issues they have and continue to face. We will address topics including systemic discrimination, stereotypes, constitutional rights, identity and intersectionality, and more. The webinar series will culminate with an impactful teach-in, a call for action for the ABA community to stop hate and violence against Asian Americans. This month, we answer this call and bring action to our activism.

    About - The Series

    Human Rights Magazine - New Issue Available!

    Volume 46, No. 3

    For the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, this is a time of both challenge and hope, a time for urgency and action. The past four years have undermined many of the policies and fundamental values for which the civil rights lawyers in this section have fought since the Section was created as the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities 55 years ago in 1966.

    Read - the latest issue

    ABA-Wide 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge ©

    CRSJ is proud to announce our participation in a “21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge ©,” and we invite all ABA members to join us. The 21-Day Challenge concept was conceived several years ago by diversity expert Eddie Moore, Jr. to advance deeper understandings of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy and oppression.

    About - the Challenge

    Civil Rights Leader to be Awarded Thurgood Marshall Award

    Honoring Clarence B. Jones

    The Section is thrilled to announce that it will honor legendary civil rights leader Clarence B. Jones with the 2021 Thurgood Marshall Award in a virtual celebration during the ABA Annual Meeting. Serving as advisor and lawyer to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. Jones played a pivotal role in many events in the Civil Rights Era, including assisting in the drafting of Dr. King’s momentous "I have a Dream" address; acting as part of the successful defense team for the SCLC in New York Times v. Sullivan; serving as part of Dr. King’s inner circle of advisers, called the “research committee”; and contributing with Vincent Harding and Andrew Young to Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam” address at New York’s Riverside Church on 4 April 1967. After Dr. King’s death, Mr. Jones served as one of the negotiators during the 1971 prison riot at Attica, and was editor and part owner of the New York Amsterdam News from 1971 to 1974.

    About - the Award

    Support the Celebration

    Generous donors supporting the Thurgood Marshall Award Celebration help fund the innovative projects and programs implemented by the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice to ensure that protection of civil rights remains a focus of legal and policy decisions. All sponsors and individual donors will receive recognition during the 2021 Virtual Thurgood Marshall Award Program.

    Sponsorship - Opportunities

    CRSJ Member Spotlight

    CRSJ 101 – Monthly Membership Event

    Attention new and interested CRSJ members! Join Section leaders and staff on Monday, May 3 at 5:00 p.m. ET for a 30-minute event to learn more about the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, our projects and initiatives, committee membership, and opportunities to get involved or get published! This event is open to all ABA members and non-members. This recurring membership orientation will occur on the first Monday of every month at 5:00 p.m. ET.

    Register - Here

    The Section's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

    The Webinar Series

    In order to serve and provide resources to our Section members, the greater ABA, and the general public, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice has developed a multi-part webinar series exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic highlights critical legal issues of criminal justice, civil rights, human rights, and economic concerns, to name only a few. In these free webinars, panelists will address the deepening crises in our collective pursuit of advancing law and justice.

    Thank you to our Sponsors!

    The Section deeply thanks all of our sponsors of the 2020 Thurgood Marshall Award Celebration. The first-ever virtual Celebration was a monumental success and featured remarks from the esteemed recipient and a conversation on justice and equity between Marian Wright Edelman and Valerie Jarrett. Your generosity allows us to continue our work, including expanded programming and publications in response to COVID-19 highlighting the effects of the pandemic on civil rights and social justice, on elections in particular, and on the fundamental causes of inequality. CRSJ pays every gift forward by giving the legal profession and advocacy community the tools to make positive change.

    See the - 2020 Sponsors

    Latest Section News

    Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice & NYU Review of Law & Social Change Joint Online Symposium is Available Now!

    This collection of articles and event panel transcripts arose from the six-part Immigration Webinar Series hosted by the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice's Rights of Immigrants Committee from November 2019 to April 2020. The webinar series explored immigration at the intersection of national security law, public international law and U.S. constitutional law, among other areas.

    Upcoming Programs

    Join Us

    Whatever your area of specialization, CRSJ has a place for you. By joining us today, you can help ensure that the world’s largest voluntary professional association continues to uphold the Bill of Rights and the ideals it embodies.

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    Donate

    Over the past five decades, the Section and its members have worked on hundreds of issues addressing a broad range of civil rights, civil liberties, and international human rights. Today, the Section continues to promote policies affecting religious freedom, LGBT rights, gender equity, and other significant civil rights issues. Your gift will help make our efforts possible for the next fifty years!

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