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13th Amendment
Abolished slavery in the United States, and it outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude and peonage. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to all people "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with "equal protection under the laws." -
15th Amendment
Guaranteed protection against racial discrimination in voting. Many women's rights activists objected to the amendment because the protections would still only apply to men. -
19th Amendment
Passed by Congress, ratified on August 19, 1920, granted women the right to vote. -
Indian Citizenship Act
Granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. the right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states banned Native Americans from voting. -
Executive Order 8802
When large numbers of African Americans moved to cities in the north and west to work in defense industries, they were often met violence and discrimination. In response, Roosevelt issued this executive order stating that "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries and the Government, because of race, creed, color, or national origin." -
Shelley v. Kraemer
Case in which the Court ruled that enforcement of racially restrictive covenants were a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" set forth in the 1898 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Executive Order 10730
(Desegregation of Central High School" Signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, this Executive Order sent Federal troops to maintain order and peace while the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas took place. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Eisenhower sent Congress a proposal for civil rights legislation. The new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1960
Established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. -
24th Amendment
Outlawed the poll tax voting requirement in federal elections. This was a step in the right direction towards the Civil Rights Movement because the mandatory poll taxes prevented many African Americans from having any sort of political power. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States
Ruled that the Commerce Clause gave the U.S. Congress power to force private businesses to abide by Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by President Lyndon Johnson, outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Loving v. Virginia
U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down state antimiscegenation statues in Virginia as unconstitutional under the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex. -
Voting Rights Act of 1970
Through this legislation, Congress extended the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for five years and expanded the ban on using tests or devices to the entire nation. -
26th Amendment
Argued that those old enough to be drafted for military service should be able to exercise the right to vote. As a result of this, Congress lowered the voting age to eighteen as part of the Voting Rights Act of 1970. -
Voting Rights Act of 1975
Congress made permanent the nationwide prohibition on tests or devices. The 1975 amendments also expanded voting rights for minority groups that traditionally had fallen outside the Act's protections. -
American Indian Religious Freedom Act
Protects the rights of Native Americans to exercise their traditional religions by ensuring access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditions. -
Voting Rights Act of 1982
Amended the Section 2 general prohibition of discriminatory voting laws to overturn the Supreme Court case Mobile v. Bolden, which held that Section 2 prohibited only purposeful discrimination.
