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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal". In the time the Civil Rights Moventent started it had been about 100 years since Dec of Independence was written.It also conducted many of the civil liberities and rights in the political system. -
Seneca Falls Convention
In July of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott spearheaded the first women's rights convention in American history. Although the Convention was hastily organized and hardly publicized, over 300 men and women came to Seneca Falls, New York to protest the mistreatment of women in social, economic, political, and religious life. -
13th Amendment
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.". -
14th Amendment
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
This amendment gives african americans the right to vote. The amendment reads: “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s, various discriminatory practices were used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. -
Colordo becomes first state to grant women right to vote
“Western Women Wild With Joy Over Colorado’s Election,” journalist and suffragist Caroline Nichols Churchill exclaimed, following the victory for woman suffrage at the polls in Colorado on November 7, 1893. This success was no small achievement. Unlike winning the right to vote through legislative action--as happened in the territories of Wyoming in 1869 and Utah in 1870--Colorado suffragists needed the support of male voters to secure the franchise. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson is an extremely important court case in that it gave legal standing to the idea of separate but equal. This doctrine required that any separate facilities had to be of equal quality. However, as segregation grew in the South this was often not the case -
NAACP founded
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminThe mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote, eferred as the Susan B. Anthony amendment, the 19th Amendment was passed by a vote of 56 to 25 in the Senate -
Brown vs Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a group of five legal appeals that challenged the "separate but equal" basis for racial segregation in public schools in Kansas, Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. The appeals reached the Supreme Court about the same time, and because they all dealt with the same issues, the Court heard arguments on them together -
One, Inc vs Olesen
in ONE Inc. v. Olesen, a landmark decision that allowed a magazine for gays and lesbians to be sent through the U.S. mail.ONE’s slick offering quickly caught the attention gays and lesbians across the country, and circulation jumped to nearly 2,000 within a few months — with most subscribers paying extra to have their magazine delivered in an unmarked wrapper. -
Executive Order 10450
In one of his first official acts after taking office, Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450, which banned gay men and lesbians from working for any agency of the federal government. But that wasn't all. The president ordered all private contractors doing business with the government to fire their gay employees, as well. And he urged our allies overseas to conduct similar purges in their countries. -
Civil Rights 1954
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the nation's benchmark civil rights legislation, and it continues to resonate in America. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Passage of the Act ended the application of "Jim Crow" laws, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson -
Illinois becomes first state to repeal its sodomy laws
Illinois became the first state in the U.S. to get rid of its sodomy law. It did so in 1961, when it adopted an overall revision of its criminal laws. The revision closely followed the 1955 recommendations of the American Law Institute, a group of distinguished lawyers and law professors. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment was important to the Civil Rights Movement as it ended mandatory poll taxes that prevented many African Americans. Poll taxes, combined with grandfather clauses and intimidation, effectively prevented African Americans from having any sort of political power, especially in the South. - See more at: http://kids.laws.com/24th-amendment#sthash.kmOBeDR2.dpuf -
Voting Rights Act 1965
The Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise -
Stonewall Inn Roits
In the summer of 1969, the New York gay activist movement was born when a group of gay New Yorkers made a stand against raiding police officers at The Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Village. In those days, gay bars were regularly raided by the police. -
Title IX
Title IX forbids sex discrimination in all university student services and academic programs including, but not limited to, admissions, financial aid, academic advising, housing, athletics, recreational services, college residential life programs, health services, counseling and psychological services, Registrar's office, classroom assignments, grading and discipline -
APA removes homosexuality as a mental disorder
In 1973, the weight of empirical data, coupled with changing social norms and the development of a politically active gay community in the United States, led the Board of Directors of the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). -
Dont Ask Dont Tell
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), byname for the former official U.S. policy (1993–2011) regarding the service of homosexuals in the military, the policy theoretically lifted a ban on homosexual service that had been instituted during World War II, though in effect it continued a statutory ban. -
Defense of Marriage Act
"Defense of Marriage Act" has been declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Committed same-sex couples who are legally married in their own states can now receive federal protections - like Social Security, veterans' benefits, health insurance and retirement savings.DOMA at the Supreme Court. -
Massachusetts legalizes gay marriage
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. -
Dont Ask Dont Tell is repealed
Based on recommendations from military leaders, President Barack Obama has certified to Congress that the U.S. armed forces are prepared for repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
There is a 60-day waiting period before the repeal goes into effect, so the law will officially come off the books Sept. 20. After that date, gay service members can be open about their sexual orientation.
