In the 1950s and 60s, while many marched in the streets, sat-in at lunch counters, and participated in freedom rides in the south, the Leadership Conference coordinated a campaign of 30 organizations to make simple justice the law of the land helping to pass The Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Since then, the Leadership Conference has increased its coalition to more than 185 groups representing people of color, women, children, labor unions, individuals with disabilities, older Americans, religious groups, gays and lesbians, and civil liberties and human rights groups.

Wade Henderson discusses the daily realities of monitoring public policies affecting these groups, speaking in detail about the Conference's activities to address the detrimental effects of hate crimes.

This lecture is held in conjunction with the University's week-long Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium Living Dr. King's Dream in the New Millennium.

Sponsored by: African American Cultural Program, Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Student Affairs Program Coordinating Committee

In conjunction with: Center for African Studies, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Center for Writing Studies, College of Commerce and Business Administration, College of Education, College of Fine and Applied Arts, College of Law, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Counseling Center, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Crop Sciences, Department of Dance, Department of History, Department of Leisure Studies, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Department of Political Science, Department of Journalism, Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Drobny Program for Jewish Culture and Society, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Illinois State Geological Survey, Latina/Latino Studies Program, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS), School of Social Work, Champaign County NAACP, Champaign Country Urban League, Champaign Park District Douglas Community Center,  Champaign-Urbana Ministerial Alliance.