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Dred Scott v. Sandford
(1857) In the case Dred Scott v. Sandford the supreme court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free of slave are not American citizens and had no ability to sue in federal court. Also ruled in this case, Congress was unable to ban slavery in the United States and U.S. territories. The Supreme Court also ruled that the rights of slave owners to own slaves was protected by their 5th Amendment right, as slaves were declared property. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868 which granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” Former slaves who were recently released -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment declared that slavery was banned in United States and the U.S. Territories. Abraham Lincoln with the help of Congress on December 6th 1865 ratified the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution officially making slavery illegal. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Poll taxes limited the ability of blacks to vote. -
Poll Taxes
The poll tax is a payment required by African Americans to vote. introduced in the 19th century as a means of disenfranchisment of the African American population in the United States. Was part of Jim Crow laws. -
White Primaries
White Primaries were primary elections in southern states in which old white voters were permitted to participate. White primaries were established by the Democratic Party or state legislature in many souther states after 1890. Used as a form of disenfranchisement of African Americans. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1982 Homer Plessy was jailed after sat on the "whites only" car of a Louisiana Train. This case was taken all the way to the supreme court where it was ruled in a 7 to 1 vote that segregation is leagal as long as everything was seperate-but-equal. This case stated that segregation itself does not constitute unlawful discrimination. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any U.S. citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. Giving women of the United States the right to vote. The 19th Amendment was passed by congress on June 4th, 1919 and was ratified on August 20th, 1920. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The ERA was proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guaranteed equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of their sex. The first draft of the ERA was written in 1923. From 1923 to 1970, some sort of the ERA was intoduced in every session of Congress. The Equal Rights Amendment never reached the needed amount of states to ratify this amendment. As recently as 2005, resolutions attempthing to revive the ERA have been introduced to Congress. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century, unanimously held that the racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Affirmative Action
President John F. Kennedy on March 6th, 1961 signed Executive order 10925 which required the government employers "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin" and "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed." Then on September 24th 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive order 11246 thereby replacing Kennedy's Executive order 10925. -
24th Amendment
On January 23rd 1964 the United States ratified the 24th amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote. It did not end discrimination, but it did open the door to further progress. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in response to Jim Crow laws and other restrictions of minorities' voting rights at the time, primarily in the Deep South. -
Reed v. Reed
In1971 Sally Reed and Cecil Reed, a couple who had seperated wer in conflict over who got their deceased sons estate. Idaho code states that males are preferred to females. The court appointed Cecil the administrator. Sally took this case to the supreme court where the Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Reed v. Reed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on sex -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
In 1978 The United States Supreme court ruled that a Universities use of racial quotas in its administrative process was unconstitutional, but the use of "affirmative action" was constitutional. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
The Bowers v. Harwick case was in breif about privacy. Two homosexual men were found in the privacy of their home having consentual sex. The two men were arrested. The two men then took their case to the supreme court were the supreme court ruled against the two men. This case found that the Georgias anti-sodomy laws were constitutional. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities act of 1990 is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits the dicrimination of people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities act offers similar protects like the Civil Rights act of 1964. Not allowing discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics. -
Lawrence v. Texas
On March 26th 2003 a similar case to Bowers v. Hardwick. Police responded to a call and entered a private residence, where they found two men engaged in a consensual sexual act. These two men John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were arrested for anti-sodomy laws of Texas. The difference between the Bowers and Lawrence cases is that in the case of Lawrence the anti-sodomy laws were found unconstitutional. Court ruled that this law violated the 14th amendment. This incorporated rights of gays.
