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Dred Scott v. Sanford
Scott was a slave from Missouri but he resided in the free state of Illinois for 10 years. Scott went to court to say that he should be a free man because of his time living in a free state. The court basically agreed that he was not a citizen and therefore could not sue. This case affirmed that slaves were seen as property and not people with rights. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment states that no slavery or indentured servitude shall be allowed in the United States except when a criminal is sentenced to it as punishment. This amendment was a sort of upgrade to the Emancipation Proclamation and it officially ended the practice of slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
This amendment granted citizenship to everybody born or naturalized in the United States. This also gave "equal protection of the laws". This would become the foundation of future cases and it was important for civil rights because it was another step forward in granting minorities equal protection in the United States. -
15th Amendment
This amendment forbade United States legislatures at the federal and state levels from robbing their citizens of suffrage based on their race/color. This gave black Americans as well as other minority groups the right to vote. Since the 14th amendment made slaves into citizens, this amendment gave former slaves the same opportunity. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This was a famous Supreme Court decision that upheld racial segregation in public places so long as the all of the races had access to places of the same quality. This was based on a doctrine dubbed "separate but equal". Plessy refused to exit a whites-only train car and went to court because he said that the policy of the racially segregated train cars violated the 13th and 14th amendments. -
White Primaries
These were primary elections in which whites were the only race that could vote. This was one of the methods that white Democrats used in order to disenfranchise black people because they knew that they would not get their votes. The court case that ended white primaries was Smith v. Allwright in which they ruled that white primaries violated the 14th and 15th amendments. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment states that gender discrimination in voting shall no longer be allowed in the United States. This amendment challenged the idea that women should focus on motherhood and housework but not politics and allowed women to have a voice in their local, state, and federal governments. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This was the Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. This case happened when a public school district in Topeka, Kansas denied entry to a local black girl. This decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in relation to public schools. This case was a huge step in desegregating public spaces and toward the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were fees that voters must pay before they vote in any election. They were used to keep poor people from voting but had the most profound effect on black Americans because there was other legislation such as the grandfather clause that allowed poor white people that had ancestors that owned land to vote even though they could not pay the poll taxes. -
Affirmative Action
Policies that exclusively support or favor members of groups that were previously discriminated against. In relation to college, colleges have a preference in accepting minority students as opposed to white students in order to correct the racial injustice committed in the past. Affirmative Action policies are quintessential examples of attempting to "level the playing field" by bringing one side down instead of another one up. -
24th Amendment
This amendment protected American citizens from the burden of paying poll taxes in order to vote in any election. This amendment prevented the Southern states from disenfranchising minority groups, especially African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark civil rights law that ended segregation in public places and protected people from being discriminated by their employer because of their inherent physical properties or their religion. This law essentially overturned the "separate but equal" ruling of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. This was a giant stepping stone towards equal rights but had to be expanded upon with the Voting Rights Act. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This law banned racial discrimination in voting and is considered one of the most extensive civil rights law in United States history. This law was necessary in order to strengthen the 15th amendment and enforce its ideals. -
Reed v. Reed
This case was a very specific one. In it, after the death of their son, divorced Sally and Cecil Reed wanted to be named the administrator of their son's estate. At the time, the Idaho Probate Code said that "males must be preferred to females" when appointing administrators of estates. The Supreme Court ruled that this law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in topics such as divorce. It has been ratified by 35 states but has not been passed into law yet, where 38 states need to ratify it. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This landmark Supreme Court case upheld affirmative action, allowing the race of applicants to become a factor for which one is considered for college admission. Bakke, a 35 year-old white man, was more qualified than the minority students that were admitted. He contended that he was rejected from the school twice because of his race. The Court decided that affirmative action was okay, but racial quotas in schools was not allowed. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A United States Supreme Court decision that upheld a Georgia sodomy law that made private and consensual oral and anal sex between adults illegal. In this case, Hardwick was participating in homosexual sodomy in his home and was arrested. The real question of the case was if this Georgia law violated the right to privacy or not, and the Supreme Court said that it did not. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that prevents the discrimination of disabled people. This is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation pertaining to civil rights in US history. It is essentially an extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to encompass people with disabilities. -
Lawrence v. Texas
In this case, the Supreme Court decided that laws prohibiting homosexual activity, given that it is private and consensual, is against the Constitution. This case originated from the police entering Lawrence's apartment die to a reported weapons disturbance and caught him engaging in sexual activity with another adult man, which was against Texas law. The Supreme Court ruled that this Texas law violated the Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
This is a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court decided that the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment guarantee the right of marriage to homosexual couples. In the case, many homosexual couples sued their state agencies in order to challenge their respective bans on same-sex marriage as well as refusals of recognition. This is a very significant and recent case that allows gay people to marry just as a straight couple would.
