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Civil Rights
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13th Amendment- 1865
The 13th amendment was passed by congress on January 31, 1865. It was later ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. This amendment ended slavery in the United States unless it is punishment for a crime. -
14th Amendment- 1868
The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868 and granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States. Is also prevented stated from denying a person life, liberty, or property. This expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans. -
15th Amendment- 1870
The 15th amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870 and granted African American men the right to vote. The amendment declares that citizens cannot be denied the right to vote. Even though it was ratified in 1870, it was not recognized for almost a century. Because of this, it took the Voting Rights Act in 1965 before most African Americans were registered to vote. -
Jim Crow- 1890’s
Jim Crow, also known as the segregation and disenfranchisement laws, that represented racial order that dominated in the south. Examples of this would be signs that said “White’s Only” or the segregation of schools, parks, and restrooms. This kept the White’s and Black’s from sharing anything. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy purposely sat in the white section and identified himself as black. He was arrested and the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy's lawyer argued that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth. This case questioned if racial segregation in public facilities was conditional. This was handed down by a seven to one vote. Which made the saying, “separate but equal” legal. -
19th Amendment- 1920
On June 4, 1919, congress made it so women can vote. On August 18, 1920, the amendment was ratified. This guarantees all American Women the right to vote. This amendment was created because there were several generations of woman suffrage. -
Korematsu v. United States
This challenged the Executive order 9066, which ordered all Japanese Americans into internment camps during WW II. This ruled six to three in favor of the United States and has not been overturned. However apology letters have been sent since. -
Sweatt v. Painter
The case involved a black man, Heman Marion Sweatt, who was refused admission to the School of Law of the University of Texas.This challenged separate but equal that was decided in Plessy v. Ferguson. At the time, no law school in Texas would admit black students. This was influenced by Brown b. Board of Education court case. This allowed states to create an only black law college. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1951, a was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The suit called for the school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. This ruled that separate schools was unconditional. This overturned the ruling of Plessey v. Ferguson. It was decided nine to zero, which made separate but equal illegal. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott-1955-1956
In December of 1955, Rosa Parks sat in the front of a Montgomery, Alabama bus in the first row of the “Colored” section. Parks was then ordered to give her seat up and move to the back of the bus but she refused to follow orders and continued to stay seated. Parks was later arrested which causes blacks across the region to resist moving to the back of the bus. -
Literacy Tests- 1960’s
In the 1960’s, Louisiana and Mississippi hosted an actual literacy test. The test was an abundance of trivia questions that had nothing to do with citizenship. The questions were created to confuse the applicant and often times the questions seemed to be unanswerable. The purpose of the test was another way to keep people of color and poor whites from voting. -
24th Amendment- 1964
The 24th amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. This made poll taxes illegal for federal elections. Poll taxes were an issue because it kept the poor from being able to vote. Even though the 15th amendment granted everyone the right to vote, many people did not have the money to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964- 1964
On February 10, 1964, The House of Representatives voted in favor of the ill and it remains one of the most significant achievements in American History. The civil rights bill was originally passed to honor President Kennedy’s death. The purpose of this Act was to end racial discrimination and segregation. -
Poll taxes- 1964
Poll taxes were made illegal because it made voting more difficult for the poor, which is what it was designed to do. The 24th Amendment made poll taxes illegal in order to make voting more rational. This outlawed the Grandfather Clause which disfranchised southern blacks. -
Robert Kennedy’s Speech in Indianapolis upon the death of MLK- 1968
On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy told the news of Martin Luther King’s death to the citizens of Indy. The gathering was originally planned to gain Democratic nomination for president; however then he heard the news of MLK’s death and insisted on speaking. -
Reed v. Reed
Sally and Cecil Reed, a married couple who had divorced, were in a fight over which of them to elect as administrator of the estate of their deceased son. Idaho Code stated that "males must be preferred to females" in assigning administrators of estates and the court selected Cecil as administrator of the estate. This case had to do with equal protection of all in the United States. Which ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. The cou -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This allowed colleges to be able to deny or accept students based on race. But colleges had to set aside a certain amount of seat for minorities. For the University of California it was 16 seats out of 200 for minorities. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This was designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The amendment was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. It was introduced in 1923. It passes both housed in 1972 and was then sent to the states for ratification. Congress had set a deadline for the states of March 22nd of 1979. The amendment had reached 35 of the 38 states ratifications. However after, five of the states took back their ratifications. Which meant it fell short and was not ratified. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
This ruled that oral and anel sex done by same sec was a criminal offense. This was ruled by five to four. Same sex activity at the time was considered worse than rape. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This was written by Tom Harkin. This was a civil rights law that prevented discrimination mainly of the disabled. However it also protected discrimination of sex, religion, and race. Additionally, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable spaces to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations. It was signed into law by George Bush on July 26 of 1990. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This overturned Bowers v. Hardwick. It was ruled in a six to three vote that struck down the previous ruling over same sex activity. This case attracted a lot of public attention and had a lot of gay advocated hopeful for the future. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action is the policy favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer from discrimination. -
Fisher v. Texas
This challenged college’s ability to discriminate against students. This was voted seven to one in favor of Fisher. -
Gay rights in Indiana
The state had formerly regulated marriage to male-female couples by law in 1986. By legislation passed in 1997, it denied recognition to same-sex relationships established in other jurisdictions. A lawsuit, Baskin v. Bogan, challenging the state's refusal to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, won a favorable ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on June 25, 2014. Until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted an emergency stay of the -
Voting Rights Act of 1965- 1965
The purpose of the Voting Rights Act is to ban racial decimation in voting practices by the government (Federal, State, and Local). Because a century of African Americans in the south were denied the right to vote, the Voting Rights Act was considered to be the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. Since then, congress has reauthorized the Act four times.
