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13th Amendment
This amendment abolished slavery which was one of the most large issues during this time. -
14th Amendment
One of the reconstructional amendments addressed for equal protection of laws -
15th Amendment
Prohibits the government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, giving African American men the right to vote. -
Poll Taxes
A fee that has to be paid to satisfy taxpayer requirements in voting laws -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Homer Plessy sat in a white section of a carrier car while identifyng himself as black, challenging the seperate cars act. US Supreme Court decided that "seperate" facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were "equal". Plessy's lawyer argued that it violates 13th & 14th amendment. -
Jim Crow
Named after a popular 19th century song that stereotyped African Americans, "Jim Crow" personified racism that still existed and segregation in the United States. There were laws called “Jim Crow Laws” that were basically laws that created separation between the black and white men again -
19th Amendment
Granted American women the right to vote- a right that was considered woman suffrage -
Sweatt v. Painter
Heman Marion Sweatt was black and applied to the University of Texas Law School but was immediately denied due to his race. The school tried to make a seperate school for blacks but it would be inferior in a number of aspects. The court claimed that the Equal Protextion Clause required that Sweatt be admitted -
Brown v Board of Education
Acknowledged as one of the greatest supreme court decisions of the 20th century, saying the racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment. Black child denied access so parent of Topeka Kansas in 1954 sued the court for being unfair. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A political and social protest against racial segregation where a group of people would ride busses going to the deep south and would refuse to give up their rights as humans ex: Rosa Parks -
Literacy Tests
An exam to determine whether someone meets the requirements for voting, serving in armed forces, etc. -
Affirmative Action
The policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who are percieved to suffer from discrimination within a culture. Term first was used in 1961 to promote actions that achieve non-discrimination. It was intended to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a society to give them equal access to that of the minority population. -
24th Amendment
Abolished all poll taxes when voting -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark piece of civil rights in the US that outlawed discrimination on others based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Had a goal to overcome legal barriers that prevented African Americans from being able to vote under the 15th amendment -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis upon death of MLK
The speech announced the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. Before boarding a plane to fly to Indianapolis, he learned that MLK had been shot and he learned once he arrived that King had died. He had knowledge that giving this speech was going to be dangerous but he carried on and announced to the large crowd that the King had died. It is known as one of the best speaches ever. -
Reed v Reed
Declared sex discrimination a violation of the 14th amendment. Held that an Idaho's law's unequal treatment of men and women based on sex was a violation of the constitution's equal protection clause. -
Equal Rights Amendment
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S or by any state on account of sex. Affirms the equality of the constitution to all persons regardless of their sex. -
Regents of University of California c Bakke
Ruled that a university's use of racial quotas in it's admissions process was constitutional in some circumstances. The Medical School of the university of California only held 16 of 100 seats in it's entering class. Bakke, a white student, was denied admission despite his MCAT scores & GPA were "significantly higher" than those of some minority applicants recently admitted so he sued. It ended up violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment. -
Bowers v Hardwick
Supreme court ruled that the constitution does not protect the right of gay adults to engage in private sodomy. Police caught Hardwick in a sexual act with a man in his home and said it violated Georgia Sodomy Statute, but he sued him saying it violated the constitution. Ultimately ruled that the right for gays to engage in Sodomy was not protected by the constitution and the Georgia law was in fact legal. -
Americans with Disablities Act
Prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accomodations, communicantions, and government activities. Also establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services. -
Lawrence v Texas
Lawrence and Garner were arrested for a false report found the men having sex-violating Texas' "homosexual conduct" law. The homosexual conduct law was unconstitutional and established that lesbians and gays share the same fundamental liberty right to privacy. -
Fisher v Texas
A white student challenged the University of Texas's consideration of race in the undergraduate admissions process. Fisher, who was denied admission and argued that the use of race violated her right to equal protection . University of Texas's race-conscious admissions ceased. -
Indiana's Gay Rights Court Battle
The Indiana Attorney general's office says same sex couples who married in the two days after the state's gay marriage ban was first struck down in June should confirm that their marriages were properly recorded. The attorney general's office sent a memo to the county clerks saying those couples faces unusual circumstances. The times of Munster reports that marriages might not be legally valid if couples did not solemize their marriage license or the county clerks did not record them w/n 30 days -
Korematsu v United States
President FDR issued an executive order to ban thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry from areas deemed critical to domestic security. Fred Korematsu, an American born citizen of Japanese descent, refused to leave his home in California, The court accepted the US military's argument that the loyalties of some Japanese Americans resided not w/US but w/their ancestral country. They decided the nation's security concerns outweighed the Constitution's promise of equal rights.
