Southern Poverty Law Center
in Montgomery, United StatesCategory: Attraction
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401 Washington Ave, Montgomery, AL 36104, USA Print route »
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The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is noted for its successful legal cases against white supremacist groups, its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs.SPLC was founded by Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery. Civil rights leader Julian Bond served as president of the board between 1971 and 1979.In 1979, the SPLC began a litigation strategy of filing civil suits for monetary damages on behalf of the victims of violence from the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, with all damages recovered given to the victims or donated to other organizations. The SPLC also became involved in other civil rights causes, including cases to challenge what it sees as institutional racial segregation and discrimination, inhumane and unconstitutional conditions in prisons and detention centers, discrimination based on sexual orientation, mistreatment of illegal immigrants, and the unconstitutional mixing of church and state. The SPLC has provided information about hate groups to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies.
Since the 2000s, the SPLC's classification and listings of hate groups (organizations that, in its assessment, "attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics") and extremists have often been described as authoritative. The SPLC's listings have also been the subject of criticism from others, who argue that some of the SPLC's listings are overbroad or unwarranted. They are often cited in academic and media coverage of such groups and related issues.
