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Dred Scott v. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. Along with that, the court ruled that congress lacked the power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories. In conclusion, the court declared that the rights of slaveowners were constitutionally protected by the Fifth Amendment because slaves were categorized as property. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution basically states 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 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including formerly enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote was adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Despite the amendment, in the late 1870s, discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied African Americans their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark where U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. The Supreme Court ruled that a law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between white people and Black people was not unconstitutional. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote. In 1848, the movement for women’s rights launched on a national level with the Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Following the convention, the demand for the vote became a centerpiece of the women’s rights movement. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was the Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. Along with that, it strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Reed v. Reed
The Supreme Court invalidated a law that discriminated based on sex, Reed v. Reed. In Reed, a law that gave preference to men over women in the administration of estates was challenged under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Title IX
This law was enacted to help prevent gender discrimination in the United States educational athletic system. The law, known commonly as Title IX, gives each gender equal rights to educational programs, activities, and federal financial assistance. The benefit of the law, especially for interscholastic sports has been immense. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
The Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but a school's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was constitutional in some circumstances. The case involved the admissions practices of the Medical School of the University of California at Davis. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government’ programs and services. In order to be protected by the ADA, the individual must have a disability, which is defined by the ADA as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The United States Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that same-sex marriage is protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Consequently, same-sex marriage bans have been struck down as unconstitutional and same-sex marriages performed out-of-state must be recognized in other states