Human Rights, WHA-ZIT

These are the rights that you’re entitled to simply for being human. The term “human rights” is relatively new, but the concept of human rights had its origins in ancient Greece and Rome. Although the principle of human rights has gained widespread acceptance over the centuries, there has been disagreement over the nature and scope of such rights and their definition. Still, the reality of popular demands for human rights in the early 21st century is undeniable, and a deepening and widening concern for the promotion and protection of human rights on all fronts is now woven into the fabric of contemporary world affairs.
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Human Rights Encyclopedia Articles By Title

What Time of Night It Is
In 1881 National Woman Suffrage Association founders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn......
What Was Frederick Douglass’s Position on Women’s Rights?
In the aftermath of the American Civil War and at the beginnings of the Reconstruction period, communities of abolitionists......
White Rose
White Rose, German anti-Nazi group formed in Munich in 1942. Unlike the conspirators of the July Plot (1944) or......
White, Walter
Walter White was the foremost spokesman for African Americans for almost a quarter of a century and executive secretary......
Whitney, Charlotte Anita
Charlotte Anita Whitney was an American suffragist and political radical who was prominent in the founding and......
Wilberforce, William
William Wilberforce was a British politician and philanthropist who from 1787 was prominent in the struggle to......
Wilkes, John
John Wilkes was an outspoken 18th-century journalist and popular London politician who came to be regarded as a......
Wilkins, Roy
Roy Wilkins was a Black American civil rights leader who served as the executive director (1955–77) of the National......
Williams, Betty
Betty Williams was a Northern Irish peace activist who, with Máiread Maguire and Ciaran McKeown, founded the Peace......
Williams, Hosea
Hosea Williams was an American civil rights leader and politician who was a major figure in the struggle against......
Williams, Robert
Robert Williams was an American civil rights leader known for taking a militant stance against racism decades before......
Wilmington Ten
Wilmington Ten, 10 civil rights activists who were falsely convicted and incarcerated for nearly a decade following......
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Wisconsin v. Yoder, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15, 1972, ruled (7–0) that Wisconsin’s compulsory......
Witness for Peace
Witness for Peace (WFP), U.S. nonprofit organization founded in 1983 by faith-based activists in response to the......
Wolf, Naomi
Naomi Wolf is a celebrated feminist writer whose groundbreaking work in the 1990s, including The Beauty Myth, gained......
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer and passionate advocate of educational and social equality for women.......
Woman, Life, Freedom
Woman, Life, Freedom, protest slogan that affirms that the rights of women are at the centre of life and liberty.......
womanism
womanism, feminist intellectual framework that focuses on the conditions and concerns of women of color, especially......
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), organization whose opposition to war dates from World......
Women’s March
Women’s March, demonstrations held throughout the world on January 21, 2017, to support gender equality, civil......
women’s rights movement
women’s rights movement, diverse social movement, largely based in the United States, that in the 1960s and ’70s......
women’s suffrage
women’s suffrage, the right of women by law to vote in national or local elections. Women were excluded from voting......
Woodhull, Victoria
Victoria Woodhull was an unconventional American reformer, who at various times championed such diverse causes......
Woods, William B.
William B. Woods was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1880–87). After being admitted to......
Wu, Harry Hongda
Harry Hongda Wu was a Chinese-born American activist who is best known for his efforts to expose human rights violations......
Young Lords
Young Lords, street gang formed by Puerto Ricans in Chicago that evolved into a diverse revolutionary civil rights......
Young, Whitney
Whitney Young was an American civil rights leader who, as head of the National Urban League from 1961 to 1971,......
Yousafzai, Malala
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the prohibition on the......
Zille, Helen
Helen Zille is a South African journalist, activist, and politician who served as the national leader (2007–15)......
Zitkala-Sa
Zitkala-Sa was a writer and reformer who strove to expand opportunities for Native Americans and to safeguard their......

Human Rights Encyclopedia Articles By Title