Civil Rights Movement

13th Amendment

Jan 31, 1865

This amendment was passed January 31st, 1865 and ratified on December 6, 1865. This amendment abolished slavery in U.S. Which it says, “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, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This didn’t mean that there was still segregation.

14th Amendment

Jul 9, 1868

Ratified on July 9, 1868 the 14th amendment is significant because it contains some major provisions: First the citizenship clause which gave all citizens born in the United States citizenship. Second the due process clause declared that states may not deny any person “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

15th Amendment

Feb 3, 1870

Ratified on February 3, 1870 the 15th amendment guarantees voting rights to all American males of any race. This was supposed to help with the civil rights movement and making whites and blacks more equal. Even though they made this amendment, white southerners found ways to subvert it after it was passed.

Poll Taxes

Mar 13, 1889

Poll Taxes (1889) – Was a huge ordeal that pretty much gave blacks back then no chance to vote because of how much it costs. It also gave poor white people no chance to vote but it was installed so only rich white people could vote. By the 1940s some of these taxes were abolished. Then after the 24th amendment the poll tax was completely gone.

Literacy Test

Mar 13, 1890

Literacy Tests (1890s) – Literacy tests were used to keep African Americans from being able to vote. The tests were administered at discretion of the officials in charge of voter registration. If the official wanted a person the pass they could ask the easiest question on the test like, “Who is the current president.” Now most officials were racist so when blacks came in they could pick the hardest question and give them no chance of even voting.

Plessy V. Ferguson

Jun 7, 1896

Plessy V. Ferguson (1896) - Supreme Court decision upholding state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." The incident in which African-American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law.

19th Amendment

Aug 18, 1920

19th Amendment (1920) – This amendment was important because it allowed pretty much anybody to vote if you were of age. It let black people and women vote which was usually never allowed. Not only could blacks not vote before this amendment but women couldn’t because women back then were always regarded as being under men and treated with no respect. This amendment passed and came into play August 18, 1920.

Sweatt V. Painter

Apr 4, 1950

Sweatt V. Painter (1950) - Heman Marion Sweatt applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School. State law restricted access to the university to whites, and Sweatt's application was automatically rejected because of his race.

Brown V. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

Brown V. Board of Education (1954) - Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to the races. As a result of the case racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Mar 13, 1955

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) – This is when African Americans refused to reside city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest because of segregated seating. Four days before the boycott even began Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus and she got arrested and fined. That gave the protesters a spark. Martin Luther King Jr. was a part of the protestor group.

Affirmative Action

Mar 6, 1961

Affirmative Action (1961) - Affirmative Action was first introduced by President Kennedy in 1961 as a method of redressing discrimination. It was developed and enforced for the first time by President Johnson. This was to show equality for everyone.

24th Amendment

Jan 3, 1964

24th amendment (1964) - Ratified on January 3rd, 1964 this amendment let any citizen from the United States vote for president and a vice president. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment didn’t remove all forms of discrimination. When the 24th amendment came in it made sure that all forms of discrimination were abolished in laws like voting and such. By then blacks were really starting to get somewhere.

Civil Rights Act

Jul 2, 1964

Civil Rights Act (1964) – This act was significant because it finally ended segregation in public places for black people. This act banned employment discrimination also which was based off race, religion, gender, color, and even national origin. Johnson passed this act on July 2, 1964.

Jim Crow

Mar 13, 1965

Jim Crow (1965) – These laws were made by someone who believed that whites were superior to black and it started all the way from 1877. This segregated the whites and blacks and put blacks in different restaurants, hotels, and bathrooms then whites. It ended officially in 1965 from the help of the current president at the time Lyndon Johnson.

Voting Rights Act

Aug 6, 1965

Voting Rights Act (1965) - On August 6, 1965 the voting rights act was introduced. The House of Representatives passed the vote that day 333-85. This act banned the use of literacy tests and it provided for federal oversight of voter registrations in areas where less than 50% of the non-white population had not registered to vote. It also authorized the U.S attorney general to investigate the use of pole taxes in local and state elections.

Robert Kennedy Speech

Apr 4, 1968

Robert Kennedy Speech (1968) – On April 4, 1968 one of the greatest speeches of all time was given in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was right after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Robert Kennedy had just a small piece of paper to write on, on his way to give the speech and the rest was just from his head. He gave such a great speech that night that Indianapolis was the only peaceful city that had blacks in it. His speech was about not turning and trying to get revenge on white people.

Reed V. Reed

Oct 19, 1971

Reed V. Reed (1971) - Idaho Probate Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing of the estate. After the death of their adopted son, both Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be named the administrator of their son's estate.

Equal Rights Amendment

Mar 22, 1972

Equal Rights Amendment (1923) - the Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. It was written in 1923 by Alice Paul, leader and founder of the National Woman's Party. The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced into every Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was passed and sent to the states for ratification. For it to be in the constitution it had to be ratified in 38 states, it was only ratified in 35 states.

Regents of the Unversity of California V. Bakke

Oct 12, 1977

Regents of the University of California V. Bakke (1977) – Allan Bakke had twice applied for admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis and was rejected both times. The Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial quotas in its admissions process was unconstitutional even though he had higher test scores and a GPA than most of the minorities.

Bowers V. Hardwick

Mar 31, 1986

Bowers V. Hardwick (1986) – this case is about Hardwick being observed by a Georgia police officer while engaging in the act of consensual homosexual sodomy with another adult in the bedroom of his home. Hardwick appealed, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional.

American with Disabilities

Jul 26, 1992

American with Disabilities Act (1992) - The Americans with Disabilities Act gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities that are like those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and religion. It gives equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications.

Lawrence V. Texas

Mar 23, 2003

Lawrence V. Texas (2003) - Houston police entered the home of John Lawrence and saw him and another adult man, Tyron Garner, engaging in a private sexual act. Arrested and convicted of deviate sexual intercourse in violation of a Texas laws. The State Court of Appeals held that the statute was not unconstitutional under the Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Fishers V. Texas

Feb 12, 2012

Fisher V. Texas (2012) - Caucasian female, applied for undergraduate admission to the University of Texas in 2008. Fisher was not in the top ten percent of her class, so she competed for admission with other non-top ten percent in-state applicants. The University of Texas denied Fisher's application.