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Dred Scott v. Sandford
The U.S. Supreme Court said in this decision that people who were enslaved were not citizens of the United States and could not expect to be protected by the federal government or the courts. Additionally, the opinion stated that Congress lacked the authority to prohibit slavery in federal territory. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was ratified in the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.More than 100,000 people who had been enslaved from Kentucky to Delaware were freed immediately after the amendment officially ended slavery. -
14th Amendment
The amendment, which was introduced to address the racial discrimination that African Americas who had recently been freed from slavery faced, established the citizenship rights and privileges and, for the first time, guaranteed that all Americans would receive equal legal protection. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment forbade the denial or restriction of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude on February 3, 1870. African-American men were effectively given the right to vote. It guaranteed males of color the right to vote, which almost immediately after ratification sparked an increase in interest in voting and running for office. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling established the separate but equal principle as a legal justification for segregation, guaranteeing the Jim Crow South's survival for the ensuing 50 years. -
Nineteenth Amendment
Women now have the right to vote thanks to the 19th amendment. The right to vote for women in America is legally protected under the 19th amendment. This accomplishment needed a protracted and challenging battle; triumph required decades of activism and resistance. -
White Primaries
White primaries, a system that allowed only white people to vote in the primaries, were formed in Texas, Georgia, and some other states to reinforce the segregation of minorities from the political structure. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education found that the racial segregation of students was unconstitutional in public schools. This canceled out the ruling that was made in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Poll Taxes
The poll tax was an example of Jim Crow legislation that had been created in the post-Reconstruction South with the intention of stifling African American voting and enforcing segregation. Some opponents of the law felt that the amendment did not go far enough to safeguard black voters' rights in municipal and state elections. -
24th Amendment
The Twenty-fourth Amendment was passed, making it illegal to pay a poll tax in order to vote in federal elections. Five states at the time—Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas—maintained poll taxes that disproportionately harmed African-American voters. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade discrimination in federally supported programs and public accommodations. Additionally, it made voting rights enforcement and school desegregation stronger. The act is the gold standard for civil rights law in the country, and it is still relevant today. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
It prohibited the discriminatory voting practices implemented in several southern states following the Civil War, such as the requirement of passing literacy tests in order to cast a ballot. -
Reed v. Reed
For the first time ever, a legislation that discriminated against women was overturned by the Court using the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was first put out in Congress in 1923, three years after the 19th amendment had been ratified, in an effort to guarantee complete equality for women. It aims to eliminate the disparities in the law that exist between men and women with regard to divorce, property, employment, and other issues. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action moves our country closer to the ideal of providing everyone an equal shot by assisting in ensuring equitable access to opportunities. Which decreases prejudice in workplace and educational settings. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
In the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case, the Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that a university's admissions requirements that used race as a specific and exclusive basis for an admission decision were unconstitutional under both Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
In this case, the supreme court declared that the due process clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments did not protect private activity between same-sex partners from states criminalizing the privacy of consenting adults. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
A federal civil rights statute recognized as the Americans with Disabilities Act forbids discrimination against anyone with disabilities in everyday activities. The ADA provides that individuals with disabilities have the same access to employment opportunities and to state and local government programs as everyone else. -
Motor Voter Act
To improve voting chances for all Americans, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, often known as the "NVRA" and the "Motor Voter Act." All Americans now find it simpler to register to vote and to keep their registration current thanks to the Act. -
Lawrence v. Texas
In Lawrence v. Texas the Supreme Court of the United States struck down sodomy laws nationwide, legalizing same-sex relationships in every State and US territory. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The Supreme Court of the declared that all same-sex couples had the legal right to marry, extending legal marriage recognition to same-sex couples nationwide. The emotional health of LGBTQIA+ persons may be directly impacted by significant events like this.