1960s

In 1964, the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley set off campus demonstrations around the state and country.  The ACLU went to battle with university officials to protect the rights of students and academic freedoms.

The ACLU-NC aided the growing civil rights movement by providing legal counsel for campaigns by African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans.  We fought to protect their rights to assemble, use public facilities and speak out about against racism.

The ACLU-NC challenged an initiative that permitted discrimination in rental housing and won the right for incarcerated Black Muslims to practice their religion.

As the lesbian and gay rights movement came out of the closet, the affiliate provided attorneys to protect their meeting places from police raids and publications from obscenity charges and to respond to general persecution by the police.

An early advocate of reproductive freedom, the ACLU-NC successfully challenged anti-abortion laws in the state, making abortion legal (1969) even before Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court.

The political ferment of the 60s generated a significant growth in membership, which reached 12,500 by the end of the decade.  The ACLU-NC established chapters around Northern California. By 1963, there were 10 local chapters.  Eighty members attended the first Chapter Conference held that year.