Civil Rights Day – A Brief History Of Civil Rights Law

Last week I’ve had the chance to attend a Civic Engagement event listed under the Civil Rights Day’s program. The panel was hosted by Law professor Mark C. Niles, with the participation of Civic Engagement professor Andrea Libresco.

During the panel, professor Niles illustrated us students and participants the meaning and the history of Civil Rights, which are different from Human Rights and they’re very specific within the American History’s facts, most of them from the Reconstruction Era (1866 – 1879). Mr. Niles explained us that Civil Rights can be viewed as Public Rights, that have to do with institutions like schools, government bodies, and healthcare system, which enable the general protection of individuals inside a national territory. For this main reason civil rights are slightly different from human rights, which operate on a global level and are addressed to a broader public. Civil rights are also in contrast with private and personal rights, because those include individuals’ choices.

By giving us a general significance of what “Civil Rights” means in the USA (or at least in the Western world), Mr. Niles structured his presentation by following a historical narrative. He told the audience the several American Civil Rights issues and related episodes that happened from the Pre-Civil War Era until the late 1960s, with Martin Luther King’s deeds.

While Mr. Niles was explaining the History and the facts that occurred around the civil rights, I realized how unclear and manipulative can the law present itself to the individual citizen. The transparency of these laws is not always clear, – think about slavery and its abolition, followed by segregation: where is the equality between African-Americans and White Americans, in real and tangible terms? – so writing and reporting becomes important and expressive. Journalism and Writing Studies in the US are fundamental and must be imperative practices, in order to understand and engage with such heterogenous population. I’ve noticed that there have been many rights that engaged civically in society and were approved by the government, like the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). The government gave people the right to engage with such activities and it was not against the law, technically. How wrong and right was it, though?

For this reason, I believe that this session I took part in on Civil Rights Day was important because it made me think how important studying and questioning these issues can change perspectives and make us better citizens, by providing solid solutions and answers against atrocities and difficulties society face on a daily basis.