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Dred Scott v Sandford
The majority opinion held that a Black American whose ancestors were imported into the U.S. as slaves, whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore did not have a standing in federal court. -
13th Amendment
This amendment abolished slavery and indentured servitude in America and deemed it illegal. -
14th Amendment
This amendment granted citizenship and equal rights and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the Civil War, including them under the umbrella phrase of "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." -
15th Amendment
This amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be dined based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This was meant to protect the voting rights of Black men after the Civil War. -
Poll Taxes
Eligible voters were required to pay their poll tax before they cast their ballots. This was a legal practice at the time to keep African Americans from voting in Southern States -
Plessey v Ferguson
This Supreme Court Case decision in the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality. -
White primaries
These were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. This was used to limit the ability of African Americans to play a part in the political process. -
19th Amendment
This amendment guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle with victory taking decades of agitation. -
Motor Voter Act
A legislation that required state governments to allow registration when a qualifying voter applied for or renewed their driver's license or applied for social services. This act has made it easier for all Americans to register to vote and maintain their registration. -
Brown v Board of Education
A landmark decision that declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for students of different races to be unconstitutional. This dismantled the legal framework for legal segregation in public schools and Jim Crow laws. -
Affirmative Action
This involves a set of policies and practices within a government organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed, or nationality in areas in which groups are underrepresented such as education and employment. -
24th Amendment
This amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections of a poll tax or other types of taxes. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This law made discriminatory voting practices illegal. It was considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of Civil Rights legislation. -
Reed v Reed
A landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between states. This ruled that the Equal Protection Clause prohibited differential treatment based on sex. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
A landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that upheld that using race to be one of several factors in college admission policy is unconstitutional and violates the Equal Protection Clause. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment guarantees that equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It ended legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce property, and employment. -
Bowers v Hardwick
A U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court considered whether a person had a constitutional right to engage in homosexual sex. The decision upheld the right to the state of Georgia to criminalize acts of sodomy, even when consenting adults in the privacy of their own home performed these acts. -
Americans with Disability Act
This civil rights law prohibits discrimination based on disability. This includes in areas such as employment, transportation, and public accommodations. -
Lawrence v Texas
This case deemed a Texas state law criminalizing certain intimate sexual conduct between two consulting adults was unconstitutional. The sodomy laws in a dozen other states were thereby invalidated. -
Obergefell v Hodges
A landmark decision that ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.