Ep. 250: Civil rights, hate speech, and the First Amendment
from So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
by FIRE
Published: Thu Aug 28 2025
Show Notes
We know the First Amendment protects hate speech. But has it always done so? And how have civil rights groups responded when their members are the target of hate speech?
University of Iowa Law Professor Samantha Barbas is the author of a new law review article, "How American Civil Rights Groups Defeated Hate Speech Laws."
Timestamps:
Intro
"The Birth of a Nation" movie controversy
Henry Ford's anti-Semitic "Dearborn Independent"
American Jewish Committee's "quarantining" solution
ACLU's Eleanor Holmes Norton defending a racist in court
Racist Senate candidate J.B. Stoner
Neo-Nazis and Skokie
Why are college students afraid of saying "the wrong thing?"
Barbas' favorite free speech literature
Barbas' free speech hero
Read the transcript here: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/so-speak-podcast-transcript-civil-rights-hate-speech-and-first-amendment.
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Show notes:
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Morris Ernst, free speech renegade (Barbas' previous So to Speak appearance, July 29, 2021)