American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia Records - Guide to Selected Case Files: Home

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia Libraries was established in 1974. The Library’s original mission was to collect and preserve materials that documented the late Richard B. Russell, United States Senator from Georgia from 1933 to 1971. The Russell Library has grown over the years as a center for research and study of the modern American political system, with particular emphasis on the role of Georgia and the increasingly diverse people, events, and ideas that shape Georgia’s modern political landscape.

The Russell Library holds more than 300 collections of papers of post-1900 elected officials, political appointees, and individuals and groups representing, persuading, or observing the political and public policy processes in Georgia and the nation. These collections include the personal papers of numerous federal and state appointees, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, judges, elected officials, political activists and observers, and the records of the state Democratic and Republican parties, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, Leadership Georgia, the ACLU Chapter of Georgia, and the Athens-Clarke County League of Women Voters.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1963 to protect civil liberties in the state of Georgia, particularly the rights of free speech, free press, free assembly, freedom of religion, and due process of law. The organization accomplishes its goals primarily through litigation, lobbying, and public education. The ACLU of Georgia is one of 52 affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union, which was founded in 1920.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia Records consist of 255 boxes, 141 audiovisual items, and 16.75 gigabytes. The majority of the records date from 1975 to 2000. The records include case files, correspondence, reports, ACLU publications, and research files. The records cover a wide range of civil liberties issues, including access to abortion, children's rights, the criminal justice system, freedom of speech and assembly, racial discrimination, the separation of church and state, and voting rights. For a complete description of the collection or to request boxes, see the finding aid.

This guide provides further description about some of the cases litigated by the ACLU of Georgia. The guide is organized into categories assigned by the ACLU of Georgia. The cases represented in this guide are the ones that are best documented in the collection. A description of the entire collection, including over a thousand other cases, is available in the finding aid.

This guide was researched and written in 2016 by Shaniqua Singleton, a third-year law student at the UGA School of Law.