American Civil Liberties Union, Dayton Chapter Records (MS-268)

The American Civil Liberties Union is a non-partisan organization committed to defending and protecting the individual liberties of U.S. citizens. Individual liberties are provided to citizens by the Bill of Rights, but the document does not implicitly provide the means to defend them. The only mechanism for individuals to defend themselves against breaches to their individual liberties is through court actions, but this is a very expensive and complicated task for one individual to accomplish on their own. The ACLU was created to provide a mechanism outside of the government by which individuals can join together to invoke the power of the courts in defense of civil liberties. To be effective, such a mechanism must be politically and financially independent of the government. Without such a mechanism, the U.S. Constitution cannot function properly, and individual liberties cannot be adequately protected.

In 1920, an independent mechanism for protecting individual rights was established under the name of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU was created to provide a permanent vanguard against civil liberties abuses, based on the premise that if the government can violate one person’s rights, it can violate anyone’s rights, leading to a continued erosion of the civil liberties of all U.S. citizens. The ACLU seeks to limit governmental power over individuals by holding them accountable to their governing documents. The organization works mainly by providing legal advice and lawyers for individuals in local, state, and federal courts and by conducting educational programs. Also, ACLU officials testify before state and federal legislative committees and lobby influential politicians. The ACLU defends civil liberties regardless of the political views of the persons whose rights have been violated.

The Dayton Chapter of the ACLU emerged in the early 1950’s and has operated on a strictly volunteer basis throughout its existence. Based on the records of this collection, covering the years from 1953-1983, the local chapter was most active during the mid to late 1950’s, and again in the late 1970’s and forward, with the period in between being very lightly documented.

Note: Portions of the agency history were excerpted from “It Takes More than a Constitution to Make Constitutional Rights,” a product of the ACLU review committee meetings in 1980.