An Allegheny Triumph Of Justice

Carrie Williams, the African American teacher at the Coketon Colored School in Tucker County, West Virginia, in the 1890s, bravely confronted an attempt to rob black children of their educational rights. In the burgeoning Jim Crow era that legally sanctioned black second-class citizenship, Carrie courageously challenged the all white Tucker County Board of Education when it shortened the school term for African American children. Her battlefield was a courtroom and her champion was John Robert Clifford, the first African American lawyer admitted to the bar in West Virginia. Until recently, the national importance of this landmark litigation has remained obscured, largely due to the earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson. Carrie Williams’ victory provided a steady ray of hope from atop the Allegheny Mountains during the long fight for equal rights for African Americans. This is Carrie’s story, a true American heroic narrative.

Originally published in 2006, the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, is a comprehensive 3 volume set covering a broad range of topics in the subject of American Civil Liberties. The book covers the topic from numerous different areas including freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition. The Encyclopedia also addresses areas such as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, slavery, censorship, crime and war. The book’s multidisciplinary approach will make it an ideal library reference resource for lawyers, scholars and students.

This Encyclopedia on American history and law is the first devoted to examining the issues of civil liberties and their relevance to major current events while providing a historical context and a philosophical discussion of the evolution of civil liberties. Coverage includes the traditional civil liberties: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. In addition, it also covers concerns such as privacy, the rights of the accused, and national security. Alphabetically organized for ease of access, the articles range in length from 250 words for a brief biography to 5,000 words for in-depth analyses. Entries are organized around the following themes: organizations and government bodies legislation and legislative action, statutes, and acts historical overviews biographies cases themes, issues, concepts, and events. The Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties is an essential reference for students and researchers as well as for the general reader to help better understand the world we live in today.

Some years ago when I was chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering, a colleague introduced me to a visitor from Sandia Laboratories, perhaps the largest developer of armaments and weapons systems in the world. We had a nice visit, and as we chatted, the talk naturally centered on the visitor’s engineering work. It turned out that his job in recent years had been to develop a new acoustic triggering device for bombs. As he explained it, the problem with bombs was that the plunger triggering mechanism could fail if the bomb hit at an angle, and thus the explosives would not detonate. To get around this, he dev- oped an acoustic trigger that would detonate the explosives as soon as the bomb hit any solid surface, even at an angle. As he talked, I watched his face. His enthusiasm for his work was clearly e- dent, and his animated explanations of what they had developed at Sandia exuded pride and excitement. I thought about asking him what it felt like to have spent his engineering career designing better ways to kill people or to destroy property – the sole purpose of a bomb. I wondered how many people had been killed because this man had dev- oped a clever acoustic triggering device. But good sense and decorum prevailed and I did not ask him such questions. We parted as friends and in good spirits.

"Since the mid-sixties, a steady stream of essays and addresses has come from the pen and heart of Millard Lind. Millard began his teaching career at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in 1959. During the early years of his teaching a major portion of Millard's scholarly energies went toward the refinement of his doctoral dissertation, in order to be published. Its final form appeared in the Herald Press book, Yahweh Is a Warrior. This book represents a landmark in studies on the topic of Yahweh's warfare as presented in the Hebrew Scriptures. It has numerous critical reviews, and has generally stood the test of the scholarly picking and pruning. Alongside this major work Millard has turned out numerous essays, some playing a supportive role to his Yahweh Is a Warrior thesis, but many pioneering in new directions as well. As the four divisions in the table of contents indicate, these essays represent work in at least four areas of probing in the Hebrew Scriptures: method; aspects of law, justice, and power; war and economics; and worship, mission, and community. This range of investigation and productivity indicates the holistic perspective of Millard's scholarly concern and theological reflection. In part it also testifies to Millard's role as a churchman, since some of these investigations grew out of specific requests of various groups or congregations to address a particular issue." --From the Foreword by William Swartley

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)