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Dred Scott v. Standford
Dred Scott and his wife lived in a free territory where slavery was prohibited, but they were still held as slaves. Dred sued for his and his wife's freedom in court, but the courts ruled that since slaves were not counted as citizens of the united states, the law had no reason to protect them. This established that African Americans had no freedoms at the time -
Jim crow Era
The Jim crow laws, which followed the13th amendment, were multiple laws that aimed to segregate, disenfranchise, and hurt African American citizens. They prevented African Americans from working in certain places for so long, which caused indentured servitude; from voting; they created segregated and worse quality public spaces to use; made it difficult for them to win court cases; and limited opportunities, including education. Those who resisted faced jail, fines, violence, and even death. -
13th amendment
This amendment abolished forced slavery or servitude in the united states and its owned territories. This means that all slaves were free in terms of the law. The downside is, many had nowhere to go, so some had to stay where they were. -
14th amendment
The 14th amendment stated that all people born or naturalized in the United States were citizens. It also stated that everyone should get equal protection under the law, and no state should make any laws that would take away any person's life, liberty, or property. This gave African Americans their first civil liberties. -
15th amendment
The 15th amendment ruled that neither the united states government nor the states themselves could prevent a citizen from voting based on race, color, or being formerly enslaved. This granted African Americans the right to vote. The problem is, states made their own laws to prevent them from being able to vote. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
In this case, the supreme court ruled that the Georgia law criminalizing homosexual sodomy, was constitutional because there wasn't a constitutional protection for same sex couples. This means that certain states could outlaw this practice. So, at the time, same-sex couples faced a lot of discrimination and hardships -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In this case, Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for black people and was arrested. He sued Ferguson on the basis that these segregated places violated the 14th amendment, but the courts ruled in favor of Ferguson. They ruled that as long as they were "separate but equal" facilities, segregation was constitutional. -
19th amendment
This amendment prevented the US government and it's states from denying citizens the right to vote based on sex or gender. This effectively gave women the right to vote. It did, however take much struggle to get to this point, as women's rights were put on the backburner for so long -
Brown v. Board of Education
These cases helped to desegregate schooling in the US. When African Americans had to go to lesser schools just because of their race, they sued. In this case, the courts ruled to desegregate schools because "separate but equal facilities" where inherently unequal. This allowed integration in schools to begin, giving African Americans much better opportunities. -
civil rights act of 1964
This piece of legislation banned all discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and sex in public places and places of employment. It is a very important law that gave those with a disadvantage, more rights. This means companies couldn't use discrimination as a means of hiring, promoting, or firing people. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is a set of policies and procedures to help diversify and prevent discrimination in companies, universities, and workplaces. This system gives minorities and the discriminated preferential treatment in order to compensate for previous discrimination. These systems give the disadvantaged equal opportunities -
Voting rights act of 1965
This act put an end to the discriminatory practices of the states and local voting places that made it almost impossible for African Americans to vote. This means the literacy tests and other local tactics were banned. In doing this, citizens had many more voting freedoms. -
Reed v. Reed
This case decided that the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment also protected discrimination based on sex. This meant that in this case, the court ruled that administrators of estates could not be named in a way that discriminates based on sex. This allowed women to have many more rights in terms of what possessions they are entitled to in case of a divorce, death, etc. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment guaranteed that everyone should have equal rights under the constitution and in state law no matter their sex or gender. It was passed in 1972, but was never ratified because it didn't meet the 38 states' approvals. It, therefore was never added to the constitution, but women gradually gained more rights in the coming year. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
In this case, Bakke, a white male hoping to attend a medical school, was not admitted because the school had set a "racial quota" to meet in order to diversify the school. Bakke went to court under the understanding that this violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, and was admitted to the school. The courts ruled that racial quotas were unconstitutional but affirmative action could be used in some cases. -
Americans with disabilities act
This law prohibits discrimination based on disability in order to allow disabled people better access to everyday activities, work, etc. This means that companies cannot fire someone based on an accident, or resist hiring someone just because of their disability. The law also gave way for better accessibility of the disabled in the future, since more of them are able to work -
Motor Voter act
Also known as "The National Voter Registration Act", this law basically made it so that many public places had to provide voter registration opportunities. Some of these places included: state motor vehicle agencies, mail-in application, and state and local offices. The law also made it so that states had to provided accurate and current voter registration lists. -
Lawrence v Texas
This law opposed the Bowers v Hardwick decision. It determined that sodomy laws were unconstitutional due to the fact that Americans have the right to privacy as an unenumerated right in the constitution. Although there was still discrimination and stigma at the time, this gave gay couples the freedom to be couples publicly without being arrested. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Obergefell sued because his marriage was recognized in some states but not others. This case ruled that same-sex couples had a fundamental right to be able to marry based on the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th amendment. All 50 states must recognize the marriage of same sex couples in the same conditions as hetero. couples.