American+Civil+Liberties+Union,+Harry+F.+Ward

Home 1920's Topics __1920’s Project Assignment__  American Civil Liberties Union Maxwell Ribar
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__Task One---DESCRIBE YOUR TOPIC -Due Tuesday, February 7__ Each topic includes an association or movement and an individual. Please write __two__ extended power paragraphs that address the following prompt:**Explain the achievements associated with your topic. Who and what were altered? Describe why both were significant in the 1920s. Explain the relationship between the individua****l and the association or movement.**
 * Support the ideas in each paragraph with evidence from a minimum of three  credible sources.
 * Select only signed  sources from the LC databases--each source must have a credible author.
 * Establish the credibility of the author the first time a source is referenced.
 * Credit sources with internal citations and in a Works Cited.
 * Insert the Works Cited after the Third Task.
 * Post the paragraphs to the wiki. Timely posting of completed tasks earn 10 points.

The American Civil Liberties (ACLU) is “the foremost civil rights organization in the United States, specializing in the maintenance of freedom of speech and an open society” (ABC-Clio). The ACLU has made it a goal to advocate for individual rights for Americans ever since Harry F. Ward, “the first chairman of the ACLU, lead the group from its creation in 1920 until 1940” (Encyclopedia). Harry F. Ward established the foundation during the attacks of antiwar protesters and immigrants during the red scare, also known as the Palmer Raids. Ward was also a American Methodist minister and was a supporter and defender of Soviet Communism, and even wrote several books on Communism, although he did not label himself as a Communist. His support for Communism was one of the main reasons he left the American Civil Liberties Union in 1940.

The founders worked hard to fight the deportation of immigrants at the time, as well as release the imprisoned for their radical ideas, encouraging the freedom of speech during its earlier days. The ACLU also provided a defense counsel for many court cases, including the Sacco and Vanzetti case, in which “Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested in 1920, during the red scare<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> for a post office robbery and murder in South Braintree, Massachusetts ” (History Study Center). It was widely believed that the two men were innocent and were falsely accused because of their lack of legal citizen status. The ACLU was a radical and impactful organization that supported free expression and the full extension of rights for Americans during the 1920s, and fought similarly throughout history and still exists today.

<span style="background-color: #9008b6; color: #7dff00; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;">__Task Two-EVALUATE YOUR TOPICS INFLUENCE-Due Friday, February 10__ <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">Please write two extended power paragraphs which each cite a minimum of three credible sources. Discuss the scope of influence of your topic on the 1920s. How extensive was the influence? Which part of society was influenced? Did the change endure or stimulate additional changes? What is the topic's legacy? What impact did the topic have in the Twenty-First century.

<span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">POST PARAGRAPHS HERE

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The American Civil Liberties Union was revolutionary during the 1920s. During the time, the ACLU was one of the first organizations to support radial ideas and defend immigrants during the red scare of 1919-1920. They were also large advocates of supporting freedom of speech at the time, which was controversial because many people were imprisoned at the time for speaking their minds. The ACLU defended many people in court cases regarding issues with civil rights that needed to be defended. The organization was also one of the first major assets to the Women's Right Movement, for example when the ACLU "created two projects to assist in women's struggle for equality: the Women's Rights Project, which focuses on general issues of equality, and the Reproductive Freedom Project, which focuses on abortion rights" (ABC-Clio). The organization affected all social classes and people as we continued to fight for our civil liberties throughout history, and did not just influence a select group of people. As time went on, the goals for the ACLU were stimulated went on the ACLU even fought for the rights of Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan -- even though the organization does not support the views of either groups, they still recognize the rights they should rightfully have to speak freely about their ideas and beliefs. They have also have campaigned for the rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam protesters, and so on. The ACLU has never stopped fighting to extend rights since its creation. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #121917; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,'sans serif';">Even today, the ACLU holds a strong legacy and still remains a prominent organization for the defense of civil rights in our country. Within this century "Following the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks ..., membership in and donations to the ACLU increased drastically, with current membership tallying more than 400,000" (ABC-Clio). Since the creation of the organization in the 1920s, the ACLU has been " working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country" (ACLU).

<span style="background-color: #9008b6; color: #7dff00; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Task ThreeJUDGE THE IMPACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL & ASSOCIATION---Due Feb. 15 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">Now that you have a basic understanding of your topic, and you know the scope of its influence, explain the forces that produced or created the topic. Additionally, what were the driving forces behind the society's reaction to your topic? Use the criteria described in the the Great Man Continuum to determine your topics long-run influence on society. Place your topic on the continuum and justify the reasons for your placement. Please confine your analysis to two extended power paragraphs with each citing a minimum of three credible sources. <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">POST PARAGRAPHS HERE

The American Civil Liberties Union was created because of influences on society, such as the increased number of immigrants into America, as well as the red scare of the 1920s, as well as supporting and defending " freedom of speech, primarily anti-war speech, and on supporting conscientious objectors who wished to avoid serving World War I" (ACLU). These forces were some of the main factors that lead the organization's founders to begin their goal of providing " legal assistance in cases in which it considers civil liberties to be at risk" (HTS), as well as taking part in the general fight for other rights and freedoms that all Americans are thought to deserve. Although the ACLU has and has had radial beliefs throughout history since its creation, I would not put the ACLU towards the "Great Man" part of the Great Man Continuum. The ACLU was more caused by Social Determinism, since the events taking place at the time lead to the organization's creation instead of it being a miraculous revolutionary project. Even without the events that lead up to the creation, something similar to the ACLU or at least an organization that shared the same values would have bound to been created as time went on, and already has. There are multiple organizations in similarity such as the Illuminati Order (IO) that were created even before the ACLU. This organization " <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">promotes a general knowledge and acceptance of the concept of individual rights and the proper role of government as protector of these rights" (IO) much like the ACLU.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The efforts of Harry F. Ward would also fall near Social Determinism. The forces that lead to the creation and the radial beliefs that it was founded on were shared by many other people at the time including other founders of the organization. Issues such as "AIDS, arts censorship, capital punishment, children's rights, education reform, lesbian and gay rights, immigrants' rights, national security, privacy and technology, prisoner's rights, reproductive freedom, voting rights, women's rights, and workplace rights" (ABC-Clio) have been defended by the ACLU and radial thinkers such as Harry F. Ward, but are nowhere near the only ones at the time.

<span style="background-color: #7dff00; color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">POST WORKS CITED HERE

“American Civil Liberties Union.” //ABC-CLIO eBook Collection//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/‌Search/‌Display/‌201199?terms=american+civil+liberties+union>.

“American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).” //History Study Center//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://www.historystudycenter.com/‌search/‌displayMultiResultReferenceItem.do?Multi=yes&ResultsID=134BF7B4391&fromPage=search&ItemNumber=1&QueryName=reference>.

“Ward, Harry F. 1873-1966.” //Encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/‌doc/‌1G2-3468301328.html>.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;">"About Us." //Illuminati Order//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://illuminati-order.com/index.html>.

<span style="background-color: #fff9e5; display: block; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #fff9e5; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;">ACLU //. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.aclu.org/>.

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Rubric for all three tasks: <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Outstanding paragraphs include the following elements: <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Accurate power paragraph format with <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">each paragraph citing evidence from three different sources. <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Correct research components such as credibility statement, <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">internal citations, <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">Works Cited entries <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Thoughtful and thorough response to the each prompt <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ A variety of sentences with interesting, clear diction <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Photos exemplifying the influence of the individual and association or movement <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Place your topic on the Great Man Continuum;  <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;"> ✓ Complete the criteria table to justify the reasons for your placement.