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13th Amendment
Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law." -
15th Amendment
States cannot deny the right to vote based on race. This gave votes to African American men; however, the use of poll taxes and literacy tests effectively disenfranchised African Americans. -
Poll Taxes
After the 15th Amendment extended the vote to African Americans in 1870, southern taxes implemented poll taxes to prevent them from voting. -
Jim Crow Laws Begin
Jim Crow Laws focused on the disenfranchisement and segregation of African Americans. The laws affected almost every aspect of daily life, mandating segregation in schools, parks, restrooms, and restaurants. -
De Jure Segregation
Under this system, different racial classes are separated from one another by law. Public areas cannot be shared by different racial classes at all. De jure segregation began during the Jim Crow era, when laws were set up in the South after the end of the Civil War to separate blacks from whites. -
Literacy Tests
Southern state legislatures employed literacy tests as part of the voter registration process starting in the late 19th century. Literacy tests were used to deny suffrage to African Americans. -
Plessy v Ferguson
Landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court deciding state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal". The justices reasoned that as long as the facilities were equal, they could be separated by race. -
19th Amendment
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 sex. After a 70-year battle, the women's rights movement finally emerged victorious with the passage of the 19th Amendment. -
Korematsu v. United States
Discrimination was very prominent during World War II. More than 100000 Americans of Japanese descent were put into encampments. The Supreme Court upheld the internment as constitutional. Since then, Congress has made payments to former internees and their family. This is because of the civil rights movement that changed the status for Asian Americans. -
Brown v Board of Education
Brown v Board of Education rules that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to anyone within their jurisdiction. The separate schools for whites and African Americans were unequal. This case ended legal segregation in the United States. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott Begins
A civil-rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. This demonstrated how unfair the separate but equal law actually was. The protest was triggered by the arrest of Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white man. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott Ends
On June 5, 1956, a Montgomery federal court ruled that the law requiring racially segregated seating on buses violated the 14th Amendment. Montgomery’s buses were integrated on December 21, 1956, and the boycott ended. -
De Facto Segregation
During the racial integration efforts in the 1960's de facto segregation was a term used to describe situations in which legislation did not segregate students by race, but nevertheless school segregation continued. Commonly, minorities especially African Americans were segregated in schools, communities, and public facilities. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmation action is a policy designed to give special attention and compensatory treatment for members of disadvantaged groups. It tried to increase employment, promotion, or admission for members who suffered discrimination. Affirmation action focused on the importance of equality. -
JFK Address to the Nation on Civil Rights
JFK's speech outlined the idea of how the United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and thus, all American students are entitled to attend public educational institutions, regardless of race. His speech follows the University of Alabama campus following its desegregation attempts. -
24th Amendment
The right of citizens to vote in any primary or other election will not be denied by the United States or any state because of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
Jim Crow Laws End
Brown v Board of Education was a landmark cases that helped end Jim Crow laws. By ruling the Plessy v Ferguson verdict unconstitutional, the separate but equal rule terminated an era of established Jim Crow laws. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The act aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. It is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis about death of MLK
Kennedy was campaigning to earn the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination when he learned that King had been assassinated. Many riots and violent protests broke out in many big cities because of the assassination. Kennedy chose to give his speech anyways, a speech filled with compassion and empathy that when he finished many in the crowd departed sad though not hateful. -
Reed v Reed
After Sally and Cecil Reed's son died, they wanted to be named the administrators of their son's estate. Cecil was appointed administrator because the Idaho Probate Code states "males must be preferred to females". Sally challenged the law because Idaho's probate code discriminates against women. The decision was in favor of Sally because the Equal Protection Clause Protected women's rights. This was the first decision in the Supreme Court that upheld a gender discrimination claim. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was supposed to ban discrimination based on sex. The Congress passed the amendment but it was failed to be ratified by enough states to become an amendment. It represented a huge step towards women's rights, even though it failed. -
Title IX
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
Allan Bakke applied twice to the University of California but was rejected both times. The school reserved 16 places in each class for minorities. Bakke's qualifications exceeded those of the qualified minorities. The court ordered that the university did in fact discriminate against him because of his race. The decision stated that universities can weigh race or ethnic background but can't set aside places for people of particular racial groups. -
Sweatt v Painter
Sweatt filed a lawsuit against President Painter because he was denied acceptance to the UT School of Law because of his race. Sweatt later won the case and was granted admittance to the university. This case challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine because it proved that the black and white institutions were unequal. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Michael Hardwick was convicted under Georgia statue after a police officer saw him and another man partake in consensual sex. The court rules in favor of Hardwick. The court upheld a constitutional right to privacy where sexual matters were concerned. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited discrimiation in employment,public services, public accommodations, and telecommunications. This was the nation's first civil rights law addressing the needs of people with disabilities. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Houston police entered John Lawrence's apartment and saw him and another man engage in sexual activity. The two men were arrested but they went to court because they felt their rights were violated. The Court decided that what the police did was a violation of the right to privacy and the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The court ruled that state laws banning homosexual sodomy are unconstitutional. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Groups of same sex couples sued the states they lived in such as Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee because they believed the ban on same sex marriage and not recognizing legal same sex marriages in unconstitutional. The Court ruled in favor of the same sex couples that sued the states. The court stated that the due process clause of the 14th amendment guarantees the right to marry and that it applies to same sex marriage. This case is a landmark civil rights case in the United States -
Fisher v. Texas
Abigail Fisher applied to the University of Texas but didn't get in. She didn't qualify for the Top Ten Percent Plan. The university considered race for the other open spots. Fisher sued the school because she felt that the school violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment because they considered race for the admission process.
