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13th Amendment
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. -
14th Amendment
One of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -
15th Amendment
prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Poll Taxes
Enacted in Southern states between 1889 and 1910 had the effect of disenfranchising many blacks as well as poor whites, because payment of the tax was a prerequisite for voting. -
Literacy Tests
To prospective voters purportedly to test their literacy in order to vote. In practice, these tests were intended to disenfranchise African-Americans. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The "separate but equal" provision of private services mandated by state government is constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. -
19th Amendment
Prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. -
Korematsu v. United States
United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship.The exclusion order leading to Japanese American Internment was constitutional -
Sweatt v. Painter
Successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson.The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that petitioner be admitted to the University of Texas Law School. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. District Court of Kansas reversed. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign lasted from December 1, 1955 to December 20, 1956. -
Affimative Action
the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who are perceived to suffer from discrimination within a culture. -
24th Amendment
Prohibits requiring a poll tax for voters in federal elections. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools & the workplace. -
Jim Crow
Racial segregation state and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern United States that continued in force until 1965 mandating de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern U.S. states. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Prohibits racial discrimination in voting. An act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes. -
Robert Kennedy's Speech in Indy upon MLK"s Death
The United States senator from New York, was campaigning to earn the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination when he learned that King had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier that day Kennedy had spoken at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend and at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. -
Reed v. Reed
The Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Reed v. Reed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on sex. Administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. -
Equall Rigts Amendment
Designed to guarantee equal rights for women. In 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. Bakke was ordered admitted to U.C.-Davis Medical School, and the school's practice of reserving 16 seats for minority students was struck down. Judgment of the Supreme Court of California reversed insofar as it forbade the university from taking race into account in admissions. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A Georgia law classifying homosexual sex as illegal sodomy was valid because there was no constitutionally protected right to engage in homosexual sex. Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded -
Americans with Disabilities Act
An act to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability -
Lawrence v. Texas
A Texas law classifying consensual, adult homosexual intercourse as illegal sodomy violated the privacy and liberty of adults to engage in private intimate conduct under the 14th Amendment. Texas state courts reversed and charges dismissed. -
Fisher v. Texas
United States Supreme Court case concerning the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Texas at Austin.The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals failed to apply strict scrutiny in its decision affirming the admissions policy. The decision is vacated, and the case remanded for further consideration.
