-
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment effectively ended slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment for a crime -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment established citizenship and equal protection of the law. It was proposed in response to the freed slaves after the Civil War -
15th Amendment
the 15th Amendment prohibited the federal and state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote based on race, colour, or previous condition of servitude. -
Poll Tax
Part of the Jim Crow laws, the poll taxes in the United states required citizens to pay to be able to vote. This kept many people from being able to cast a vote -
Literacy Test
The literacy tests, along with the poll taxes, were part of the Jim Crow laws to prevent people from voting. The literacy tests required voters to take a test of intelligence before they could vote. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Court cased that ruled that "seperate but equal" segregated facilities were constitutionally protected -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote -
Korematsu v. United States
This case dealt with the moving of Japanese citizens to concentration camps during World War II. The court ruled in favor of the federal government. -
Sweatt v. Painter
This court case successfully challenged the "Seperate but equal"rulings from the Plessy v. Ferguson case -
Brown v. Board of Education
This court case ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was a political and social protest against the segregation of whites and blacks. Obviously, this was done by bus, but it was also a protest for the many segregated facilities -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws were racial segregation laws in the Southern states. It segregated white and coloured people in "seperate but equal" circumstances, however, the coloured facilities were much more inferior to that of the white's -
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges was one of the first black students to be integrated into a white school in the spring of 1960 -
Affirmative Action
This is the policy of favoring members of a certain ethnic group that has suffered from discrimination -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibits the federal and state governments from burdening voters with a poll tax or any other type of tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This law outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended public segregation -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This law prohibited racial discrimination in voting. It enforced the rights of the 14th and 15th Amendments -
Loving v. Virginia
Virginia's law prevented marriages between persons solely on the basis of racial classifications which the court decided violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis
This speech, instead of addressing the coming election, talked about peace and cooperation among the people of the nation. It is hailed as one of the best public speeches of the modern era. -
Reed v. Reed
This case was an equal protection case that ruled that administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes -
Equal Rights Amendment
This Amendment was meant to give equal rights to women. It was introduced to congress in 1972 where it passed through both houses. It was not ratified by enough states however and the Amendment never passed. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This case upheld affirmative action, which kept race as being a factor in college admissions -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Upheld the constitutionality of the Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex between homosexuals -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act prevented the discrimination of a person based on their disabilities. It coincided with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -
Lawrence v. Texas
This case ruling struck down the Sodomy Law in Georgia as unconstitutional -
Fisher v. Texas
A case dealing with affirmative action. It essentially upheld it and did not allow the lower courts to overturn it -
LGBT rights in Indiana
On September 29, 2014, the United States Supreme Court will have its first chance to consider hearing this federal marriage case seeking the freedom to marry in Indiana. The state of Indiana has appealed a September 4 ruling in favor of the freedom to marry, which upheld a ruling from this date, that declared it unconstitutional for Indiana to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples.
