Crowley County Combined Library

One winter night in 1879, at a Kansas campsite near Crooked Creek, a man was shot to death. The dead man's traveling companion identified him as John Hillmon, a cowboy from Lawrence who had been attempting to carve out a life on the blustery prairie. The case might have been soon forgotten and the apparent widow, Sallie Hillmon, left to mourn, except for the $25,000 life insurance policies Hillmon had taken out shortly before his departure. The insurance...

Fight of the Century shows how throughout American history, pivotal legal battles, fought primarily by underdogs and their lawyers, have advanced civil rights and social justice. The ACLU has been integral in this process. The essays range from personal memoir to narrative history, each shedding light on the work of one remarkable organization as it shaped a country.

"Since 1896, in the landmark outcome of Plessy v. Ferguson, the doctrine of "separate but equal" had been considered acceptable under the United States Constitution. African American and white populations were thus segregated, attending different schools, living in different neighborhoods, and even drinking from different water fountains -- so long as the separated facilities were deemed of comparable quality. However, as African Americans found themselves...

"On December 7, 1941 -- "a date which will live in infamy" -- the Japanese navy launched an attack on the American military bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and the US Army officially entered the Second World War. Three years later, on December 18, 1944, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which enabled the Secretary of War to enforce a mass deportation of more than 100,000...

"The fascinating and very moving story of the lovers, lawyers, judges and activists behind the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that led to one of the most important, national civil rights victories in decades--the legalization of same-sex marriage. In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to...

Spence, renowned for his work on the cases of Karen Silkwood and Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, offers the true account of a trial that exposes the unrelenting power of the state that so often crushes all who come before the bar of justice--guilty or innocent

Should newspapers be allowed to print articles that may prove embarrassing or uncomfortable to the U.S. government.

This book examines Roe v. Wade, and its effects on abortion rights in the United States.

The landmark Supreme Court case that dealt with drawing the line between legal and illegal searches of private residences and what evidence obtained from such searches is admissible in court.

This is an overview of the noted O.J. Simpson murder trial and the events preceding it.