The state of Mississippi has decided to close the state's notorious Columbia Training School, seven months after the Southern Poverty Law Center sued the state to stop the physical and sexual abuse of teenage girls confined there.
It was supposed to be the start of another school day for 15-year-old Marie Justeen Mancha as she sat in her bedroom, waiting for her mother to return from an errand in town.
Darius was only 9 when he was locked up. For two months, he languished in a juvenile facility — alone, frightened. He missed his 10th birthday party. He missed Thanksgiving. He missed his stepfather's funeral.
In commemoration of the upcoming 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, the Spring 2008 issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance magazine includes a special teaching package about the civil rights leader and an exclusive essay by Congressman John Lewis that examines King's legacy.
Children in Mississippi's broken juvenile courts often find their future hinges on overworked public defenders they meet only minutes before a court appearance, according to a report released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
There's no doubt that the tone of the raging national debate over immigration is growing uglier by the day.
Responding to growing economic inequality in the United States and the lack of education about the issue, the Southern Poverty Law Center's renowned Teaching Tolerance program today released a set of lesson plans to help educators teach students about the nature, scope and history of poverty.
More than 4 million students across the country will step into their school cafeterias and out of their cliques on Nov. 13 as part of the sixth annual Mix It Up at Lunch Day, a project designed to foster respect and understanding in schools and communities.
Programs that teach tolerance and defuse racial tension in schools are the key to preventing racially explosive events like those in Jena, La., Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen testified during a congressional hearing today.
A preacher who once had breakfast with President Bush is at the heart of a ferocious anti-gay movement that has emerged in evangelical churches serving tens of thousands of Slavic immigrants on the West Coast. This aggressive movement is the subject of the cover story of the latest issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report.
