The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1971 in Montgomery, Alabama, by lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. with civil rights leader Julian Bond as its first president. Initially focused on fighting poverty and racial discrimination, the SPLC quickly became known for its innovative legal work, most notably using civil suits to win devastating, multimillion-dollar judgments against violent white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, effectively bankrupting them. Today, its work includes tracking and exposing hate groups and extremist organizations through its Intelligence Project, advocating for criminal justice reform, immigrants' rights, children's rights, and LGBT equality, and providing anti-bias education to schools nationwide through its Learning for Justice program (formerly Teaching Tolerance). The SPLC remains dedicated to dismantling white supremacy and advancing the human rights of all people.
