![]() ![]() “We knew we were going to be arrested and we felt and said all I have to do is get my case to the United States Supreme Court because of the decision issued in 1954, Brown v. One of the participating students was longtime congressman Jim Clyburn. On their journey, they chanted religious hymns and carried signs bearing the message “Down with Segregation.” The case began in March 1961, when nearly 200 African-Americans - mainly college and high school students - marched from a church to the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. ![]() Freedom of assembly in the Civil Rights MovementĬonsider the celebrated civil rights decision of the 1963 case of Edwards v. Government officials may not arrest those who assemble peaceably because they fear the protestors’ message or otherwise want to shut down public discourse. ![]() The Supreme Court reversed the conviction, ruling that “the holding of meetings for peaceable political action cannot be proscribed.”Ī key to understanding freedom of assembly is recognizing the importance of the adverb “peaceably,” as the First Amendment protects peaceful, not violent, assembly. The Court invalidated an Oregon “criminal syndicalism” law that prohibited advocacy of “any unlawful acts or methods as a means of accomplishing or effecting industrial or political change or revolution.” Dirk De Jonge had been convicted under the statute for teaching Communist doctrine to a gathering of 300 people. State of Oregon, writing that “the right to peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.”įreedom of assembly is the fourth inalienable right enumerated in the First Amendment, which means public universities are obligated to ensure that it is protected. Supreme Court recognized the importance of this freedom in the 1937 case De Jonge v. Consider the Women’s Suffrage Movement without placard-carrying suffragists - called “Rampant Women” by The New York Times - taking to the streets without fear. Imagine the Civil Rights Movement without the Children’s Crusade or the March on Washington. Sometimes these efforts have galvanized public support or changed public perceptions. In American history, groups as diverse as union workers, civil rights advocates, anti-war demonstrators, and Ku Klux Klan members have assembled, taken to the streets, and broadcast their messages to the public. The First Amendment prohibits the government from abridging “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This basic freedom ensures that individuals can gather together to advocate for causes, beliefs, movements, or protests. ![]()
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