Sharon Basch | University of Pittsburgh School of Law Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Sharon Basch | University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Media Restrictions Echo Historical Patterns of Democratic Decline

Sharon Basch | University of Pittsburgh School of Law

March 19, 2025 03:40:57 pm

The slow, insidious dismantling of a free press is not a mere shift in media landscape; it’s a calculated assault on the very foundations of democracy. To understand this, we must recognize that a free press isn’t just about headlines and soundbites. It’s the lifeblood of an informed citizenry, the watchdog against tyranny, and the [...]

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March from Selma begins

On March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. began his third march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest racial discrimination in the Jim Crow South. By March 25, over 25,000 people led by Dr. King reached Montgomery, Alabama. Specifically, the march called attention to the suppression of African-American voting rights and a police assault on a civil rights demonstration three weeks prior. Five months later, in August 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Read a history of the march from Selma to Montgomery.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.