A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference. Civil rights attorneys handle cases involving the rights of individuals to be free from unequal treatment (or discrimination) based on legally-protected characteristics such as race, gender, disability, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and religion. Civil rights cases can arise in a number of settings -- including employment, housing, lending, and education.
Pitcairn is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, fifteen miles (twenty-four kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. Early in the 20th century, it was the site of large railroad yards and shops that employed nearly ten thousand men. In 1900, 2,601 people lived there. In 1910, 4,975 lived there, and in 1940, Pitcairn was home to 6,310 people. The population was 3,689 at the 2000 census. Pitcairn operates its own power distribution system and municipally owned cable television system. Pitcairn was the birthplace of bandleader Ted Weems and of musical instrument maker Carl Thompson, as well as early NFL football player Harry Robb. In 1971 the first Fox's Pizza Den was opened on Broadway Blvd. in Pitcairn. It remains open to this day. Pitcairn Yard, which opened in 1892 and was for many decades a major switching yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad, later the Penn Central Railroad and Conrail, is now, since the 1990s, an intermodal freight transport yard for the Norfolk Southern Railway, where containers are taken off trains and transferred to trucks for delivery, or from trucks to trains.