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Dred Scot v. Sandford
Dred Scot, an enslaved man from Missouri who resided in Illinois for several years, argued that he should be free because his residence was listed in Illinois. The Supreme Court essentially dismissed the case on the grounds that Scot was property, not a person, and therefore could not sue.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/60us393 -
13th Amendment
The Constitutional amendment that outlaws slavery, unless it is the punishment for a crime. -
14th Amendment
The Constitutional amendment that grants citizenship to all formerly enslaved persons. This means that all rights are now extended to those persons. -
15th Amendment
The right to vote is extended to all formerly enslaved men. Suffrage for Black women will not be granted for another century. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A group of Louisianians asked Homer Plessy, a man who was legally Black under Louisiana's law, to sit in an all-white train car. He was arrested, but appealed the conviction on the grounds that it violated the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Supreme Court ruled that this did not not violate either amendment, so long as the separate cars, restrooms, water fountains, schools, or other public spaces were "equal." -
19th Amendment
The Constitutional amendment that gave white women the right to vote. -
White Primaries
White primaries were attempts by political parties (specifically the Democratic Party) to limit or, in some cases, flat-out ban Black people from running in elections. For a time, the Supreme Court had said that, as a private organization, the Democratic Party could establish its own rules for membership, including race. These primaries were the norm in southern states for decades, until the Supreme Court heard the case of Smith v. Allwright, which overturned the membership ruling. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Several cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and D.C. regarding segrated schools were brought forward to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned the decision made in Plessy v. Ferguson, saying that separate but equal was not equal at all, and thus violated the 13th and 14th Amendments. -
Affirmative Action
The language was first used by John F. Kennedy to coerce businesses to make more effort to hire people regardless of any potential discriminatory factors such as race or sex. Affirmative Action has been seen ac controversial. Some argue that businesses should only hire people best suited for the job, while others view it as a necessary step to diversify the workforce. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes required a certain fee to be paid before a person could vote, and African Americans, who were often in lower economic brackets, could not pay them. The end of poll taxes lowered a barrier to voting, like the end of the grandfather clause and literacy tests did. -
24th Amendment
The use of poll taxes can no longer be used, meaning that now there is no economic barrier to one's civic duty. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act is often regarded as the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 1960's. The CRA allotted for several things. One, the CRA prohibited public discrimination based on race. Two, the CRA fully implemented integration in schools and other public spaces. Three, employment discrimination based on race was also made illegal. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, the Voting Rights Act made voting barriers like poll taxes and literacy tests illegal. This act took away economic and systemic hurdles that had deterred Black voters in the past. Furthermore, Black women finally had the right to vote. -
Reed v. Reed
An Idaho law said to defer to men when deciding who will be the administrator of an estate. When Cecil Reed was chosen over Sally Reed as the administrator of the son's estate, Mrs. Reed challenged the law. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the law was unconstitutional. -
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed Constitutional amendment drafted by suffragists Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. The amendment was supposed to end the legal distinctions between men and women, specifcally those regarding divorce, property ownership, employment and more. Ultimately, it never reached the ratification goal on time, though now, it has, and the amendment still has the support to be fully ratified and adopted into the Constitution. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
When a white man was not accepted into the University of California Medical School twice, he argued that he should have been selected over the affirmative action acceptances because he had better qualifications. The Supreme Court agreed that racial quotas as implemented by the school were unconstitutional, but using race as admission criteria was not. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Hardwick was found engaging in same-sex, uh, intercourse, and was arrested. He challenged the Georgia law that outlawed sodomy. The Supreme Court ruled that the Georgia law was viable, and that states could make laws outlawing sodomy. -
American with Disabilities Act
During the mid-1900's, various pieces of legislature protecting veterans and children with disabilities had stirred a growing support for a new law that consolidated all of them into one. Enter the American with Disabilities Act, which, among other things, protected disabled Americans and their right to vote. Also, businesses were instructed to comply with handicap regulations, which made the act unpopular with those businesses who had to pay for those changes out of pocket. -
Motor Voter Act
Better known as the National Voter Registration Act created certain requirements for voter registration. The most noteworthy of these was the Section 5, which said that voter registration had to be allowed through state motor vehicle agencies. This opened doors for voters to register via simpler methods. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence and his partner were engaging in sodomy when they were arrested by Houston police. The Supreme Court overturned their ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick, saying that same-sex couples did have the right to engage in private sexual actions of their own accord because they were protected under the Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
A compilation of various groups of same-sex couples sued their respective states and the laws that did not allow them to get married. At the Supreme Court, the federal protection of gay marriage was confirmed under the 14th Amendment. Some members of the Supreme Court argued that the court was overstepping and overinterpreting the Constitution, but the majority opinion used the 1st Amendment to further their decision.