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SAN FRANCISCO — As the ACLU celebrates 100 years of landmark civil rights work nationwide, the ACLU of Northern California is simultaneously releasing the digital archives of our membership newsletter, in partnership with the California Historical Society.
This treasure trove of civil liberties history, including every issue of the ACLU News newsletter dating back to 1936, will now be digitally available and instantly searchable through the California Historical Society website. The archives will be released in phases, starting with the first decade, 1936 to 1945.
“The articles, photographs, editorials, letters of support and outrage from early ACLU members, are an inspiring record of our long commitment to civil rights advocacy in communities across the state,” said ACLU of Northern California Executive Director Abdi Soltani. “The archives help us connect the dots between past and present.”
Did you know early free speech champions in California faced frightening retaliation from Sheriff-backed anti-union mobs? Or that an ACLU attorney was dragged out of town and beaten by vigilantes for defending the right of lettuce farmworkers to unionize and strike?
Delve into the ACLU of Northern California’s newly released ACLU News archives and you will find detailed descriptions of key moments in California history, some of them rare firsthand accounts.
You may have heard of the Supreme Court case that the ACLU of Northern California filed on behalf of Fred Korematsu, challenging the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Peruse the archives and read about four similar ACLU internment cases as well as our reports on “gestapo-like” conditions at the Tule Lake camp.
The ACLU of Northern California is thrilled that this vital history will now just be a keyboard click away.
Visit the archives at: https://www.aclunc.org/archives/CHS
