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13th Amendment
This amendment explicity banned slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. An exception was made for punishment of a crime. This amendment also gave Congress the power to enforce the article through legislation. -
Poll Taxes
Theses taxes were made illegal. These taxes were made to prevent poor people from exercising their right to vote. Now that it is illegal anyone of age can vote. -
14th Amendment
This amendment set out the definitions and rights of citizenship in the US. The first clause asserted that anyone born or naturalized in the US is a citizen of the US and of the state in which they live. Confirms the right to due process, life, liberty, and property. -
15th Amendment
This amendement prohibited governments from denying US citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or past servitude. While it provided legal protection for voting rights based on race, there were other means that could be used to block Black citizens from voting. -
Jim Crow
Racial segregation state and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern US that continued in force until 1965 mandating de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern US states, starting in 1890 with a "seperate but equal" status for African Americans.Conditions were consistently inferior and underfunded compared to white Americans. This decision institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages. -
Literacy Test
This was a test given to African Americans to see if they could vote or not. It was extremely difficult and nearly impossible to pass. This test took people's voting rights away. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson looked over the constitutionality state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal. The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1 with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave voting rights to women. People marched, lectured, and lobbied since the 19th century. Before being ratified Suffragists were facing threats, hostility, and imprisonment. -
Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu v. The United States had to do with concern on the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. This ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during world war II whetehr they were citizens or not. This was voted constitutional in court 6-3. -
Sweat v. Painter
Sweat v. Painter was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" dectrine of racial segragation. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later. It occured because a black man was refused into the school of law. -
Brown v. Board of Eduacation
Black children were denied addmision into a school that white children attended. There was a law that segregated schools by race. This was taken to court and then schools were allowed to jion together between whites and blacks. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans refused to give up their bus seats. Rosa Parks was one of them and she was arrested and fined. MLK was part of this boycott and helped integrate the bus system. -
24th Amendment
This resulted in a quarter of a million new black voters by the end of 1965. A decade later that number had more than tripled, and blacks also began serving in Congress and state legislative bodies in record numbers. At least in the eyes of the law, all men and women finally were "created equal". -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This law affected the nation profoundly. For the first time it prohibited discrimination in employment and businesses of public accommodation on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Affirmative Action
This act prohibited descrimination again race as well as sex in the work place. The word "sex" was added at the last moment so that no one person in the United States could be denied a job due to their gender or race. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs this act into law, permanently barring barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities. Prohibiting any election practice that denies the right to vote on account of race, and requiring jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting to get federal approval for changes in their election laws before they can take effect. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis upon death of MLK
It was one of the most dramatic speeches in history. It marked the ending to the era. He told the audience that were black if they were filled with anger to be mad at the white man. He was trying to spread equalism. -
Reed v. Reed
Reed v. Reed was an Equal Protection case in the United States in which the Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. The case was between a married couple who were seperated and were debating who should have rights over their deseaced sons estate. Idaho Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing administrators of estates. She then took hit to court. -
Equal RIghts Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. 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
Allan Bakke, a thirty-five-year-old white man, had twice applied for admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. He was rejected both times. He exceeded all qualifications to get in. Bakke contended, first in the California courts, then in the Supreme Court, that he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
This Supreme Court Ruling was overturned in 2003, the constitutanality Georgia sodomy law. This law banned oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults when applied to homosexuals.It was overturned in a 5-4 ruling. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities.The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) provides publications and other technical assistance on the basic requirements of the ADA. It does not enforce any part of the law. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Two men, Lawrence and Garner were taken to court due to having sexual relations. Huston police had entered Lawrence's apartment and found them engaing in a sexaul act. They were arrested and convicted of deviate sexual intercourse in violation of a Texas statute forbidding two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct.The court said this was not unconstitutional due to the 14th Amendment. -
Fisher v. Texas
In 2008, Abigail Noel Fisher and Rachel Multer Michalewicz applied to attend school at the University of Texas and Austin and were denied admission. They both filed suit alleging that the University had discriminated against them because of their race. They claimed this violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In the end the university learned that its admissions policy passed but would face a tough test when the case went back to the lower courts for further proceedings. -
Indiana's Gay Rights Court Battle
The United states supreme court denied review to the 7th ciruit ruling in favor of the freedom to marry. This meansit will be legal for same-sex couples to get married in Indiana.
