Southern Poverty Law Center

Description

The Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, is an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization working on civil rights and human rights.

Civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr., together with Julian Bond, founded it in 1971 in Montgomery, Alabama, first as a legal clinic against poverty, racial discrimination and the death penalty. It later became known for civil lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan and other violent white supremacist groups, seeking damages for their victims. It has also brought cases on prison and detention conditions, discrimination against immigrants and migrant workers, and discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Through its Intelligence Project, formerly Klanwatch and Hatewatch, it tracks and exposes hate groups and other extremists, and has shared this information with law enforcement. Its Learning for Justice project, formerly Teaching Tolerance, provides anti-bias and civic education resources for schools and communities across the South and the nation. Its funding comes from fundraising rather than legal fees, and it does not keep a share of the judgments it wins for clients.

The SPLC describes itself as a catalyst for racial justice, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy and advance human rights for all people. It pursues this work mainly through litigation, monitoring and education rather than direct representation of individual clients outside its cases. It operates within the United States, based in Montgomery, Alabama.