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13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servetude, unless it is a punishment for crime. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. This was mainly directed for former slaves of the Civil War. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment prohibits the federal and state government denying a citizent the right to vote based on race or colour. -
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Poll Taxes
Poll Taxes were an attempt to keep poor citizens, mainly blacks, from voting in federal elections. People had to pay $1.00 - $1.50 in 1889 which is about $25 - $40 in today's money worth. -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws were laws adopted after the Civil War that mandated segregation between whites and coloured people in America. -
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Literacy Tests
Literacy Tests were administered by state governments to prevent black citizens from voting. These were used to keep people who could not read from voting. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This supreme court case established the constiutionality of private services mandated by state government under the Equal Protection Laws. It upheld the "Seperate but Equal" doctrine used by many states during the time. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment states that no citizen can be denied the right to vote on the basis of gender. This was mainly to give the right to vote to females. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the consittution that would guarantee equal rights for women. While it did not pass the first time in Congress, the bill did arise in 1978 again. -
Korematsu v. United States
This was a Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Seatt v. Painter was the US Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of "seperate but equal." This case later lead to Brown v. Board of Education -
Brown v. Board of Education
The landmark case which challenged segregation in public schools. This court case over turned the Plessy v. Ferguson court case in 1896 and ruled that segregation, specifically in schools, is unconstitutional. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a peaceful protest where those against bus segregation refused to ride public busses and in turn would affect the profits of the bus companies in Montgomery. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibited states from requiring a hefty tax on citizens wanting to vote in federal elections. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act was a huge peice of Civil Rights legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and nationality. -
Affirmative Action
In a speech to the graduating class at Howard University, President Johnson framed the concept of affirmative action, showing that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act was a peice of legislation that further enforced the text of the 15th Amendment which prohibits voting discrimination based on race. -
Robert Kennedy MLK Speech
Robert Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was given on April 4, 1968, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was a senator from New York and was campaigning to earn the Democratic nomination when he learned that King had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Reed v. Reed
Reed v. Reed challenged the Idaho Probate Code that "males must be preffered to females" in the appointing of administers of estates. The Supreme court ruled this unconstitutional. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This supreme court case upheld the affirmative action where race can be one of several factors in admission to college. In specific situations, such as the one used at University of CA, setting aside 16 out of 100 for minority students is impermisible. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Overturned in 2003, Bowers v. Hardwick ruled in favor of the constitutionality of Geogia sodomy laws. Georgia law classified homosexual sex as illegal sodomy and the supreme court upheld this. -
Americans With Disabilites Act
Enacted in 1990, The Americans With Disabilities Act established a clear prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. This inlcudes physical and mental disabilites. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This supreme court case overturned the decision of Bowers v. Hardwick which described acts of Homosexual intercourse as illegal under anti sodomy laws. The supreme court decided that sodomy laws violated the 14th amendment and the right to privacy. -
Fisher v. University of Texas
The supreme court case concerning affirmative action admissions policy at the University of Texas. The admissions policy stated that the university had to accept all high school seniors in the top 10% of their class. When they needed to modify this they used race as a consideration factor. -
Same-Sex Marriage in Indiana
Same-Sex marriage has been legally recognized in Indiana since October of 2014. The lawsuit Baskin v. Bogan challenged gay marriage laws and got strong support from the Southern Distict Court. In Bowling v. Pence, this made Indiana recognize out of state homesexual marriages.
