Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights and related organizational records

Scope and Contents note

Includes correspondence, minutes, and other files of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights (CCDBR), organized in 1960 to protect rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and of forerunner organizations that shared office files, including the Civil Rights Congress of Illinois, the Lightfoot Defense Committee, and the Smith Act Families Committee. The CCDBR staff also functioned as the Midwest regional office of the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL), and correspondents include leftist and civil liberties groups throughout the country, particularly Frank Wilkinson of NCARL. Topics include CCDBR's cooperation with the Chicago and the Midwest Committees for Protection of the Foreign Born (1940s-1950s), the Alliance to End Repression (1970s-1980s), lobbying and other activities opposing: the House Un-American Activities Committee, Federal Bureau of Investigation surveillance, the Anti-riot Act, and the Vietnam War; work for passage of the Freedom of Information Act of 1975; and a variety of other civil liberties issues. Includes files of the executive directors of CCDBR, Richard Criley and Rachel Rosen DeGolia; materials on Criley's civic activities for the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago; and copies of Criley's F.B.I. file obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.