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Dred Scott vs. Sanford
The Dred Scott Case was a fight for freedom by a slave named Dred Scott. After going through multiple courts, the case finally reached the supreme court. The case argued any person taken to a free state or territory were automatically free and could not be turned back to slaves upon returning to a slave state. Scott received support from abolitionists, however the Dred Scott decision ruled against him and he did not gain his freedom until his owner let him go. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment was ratified into the Constitution after the Civil War, and was the amendment that officially abolished slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was passed by president Abraham Lincoln, which proclaimed that slaves held in the Confederate States were “thenceforward, and forever free”, although it did not apply to slaves that were in the Union States. The 13th Amendment finally ended slavery in all states. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment was ratified into the Constitution a little after the Civil Rights Act and was the amendment that stated that those born or naturalized in the U.S. were officially U.S. citizens. It also promised “equal protection of the law”. This notably applied to former slaves, and was opposed by President Johnson and Southern States, however Southern States were required to ratify this amendment in order to regain representation in Congress. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment was ratified into the Constitution 2 years after the 14th amendment and it was the amendment that granted African American men the right to vote. Although officially African American men could vote, there were often discriminatory practices set in place such as literacy tests to try to prevent African American from voting. Despite this amendment, many African Americans were not able to vote until the Voting Rights Act was passed in almost a 100 years later. -
Poll Taxes
After the 15th amendment was passed, there were many barriers used to still try to disenfranchise the African American vote. One of these barriers was poll taxes which required people who wanted to vote to pay a fee before they could do so, and this purposely targeted impoverished African Americans, however poor whites were affected as well. Poll taxes were finally banned by the 24th Amendment. -
White Primaries
White primaries were one of the barriers put in place to disenfranchise the African American vote after the 15th Amendment was passed. White primaries only allowed for whites to vote in primaries to choose the nominees for their parties, and as a result officials who only represented the white voters were put in office. This deprived African Americans of the electoral involvement, however was one of the practices banned after the civil rights movement. -
Plessy v Ferguson
Homer Plessy was a mixed race man that was persuaded into challenging the Separate Car Act, a rule that prevented blacks and whites from sharing train cars in 1896. He boarded the train and sat in a whites only seat, and was immediately arrested by a planted detective. In the trial, he said it violated his rights under the 13th and 14th amendment. The judge ruled that it was “separate but equal.” This case legitimized the legality of separation based on race. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment was ratified into the constitution in 1920, and granted women the right to vote in response to the women’s suffrage movement. One of the major events of the women’s rights movement was the Seneca Falls Convention where the demand for the right to vote was one of the issues raised, although this only applied to white women. This was a major step forward in equality in the U.S. -
Brown v Board of Education
In 1954, Oliver Brown took the Board of Education of Topeka to court after his daughter was denied entrance to the school because of her race. The U.S. District Court of Kansas upheld the doctrine, despite agreeing that it had a “detrimental effect on the children” and that it led to a sense of inferiority. In the Supreme Court case, the justice ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine has no place in public schools. -
Affirmative Action
Since the 1960s, Affirmative Action has been a way to combat racial discrimination in the hiring process, with the later expansion to address gender discrimination. President Kennedy required government employers to "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin" and "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed [and treated] without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment was ratified into the Constitution around the time of the Civil Rights movement, and was was the amendment that forbade the practice of poll taxes. Poll taxes were another voting barrier used to prevent and African Americans and poor people from voting. Doing away with poll taxes would eliminate economic inequality when it came to voting, and allowed for more people to have a say in elections. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act was enacted in the aftermath of the civil rights movement, and officially ended segregation by race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public places. After the outrage from things such as the Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and being barred from voting because of race, many African Americans began to fight for the basic civil liberties that they deserved as citizens. The Civil Rights Act also prohibited being denied service because of race. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act was another act that was passed in light of the Civil Rights movement. The act aimed to eliminate the barriers that at the state and local level that were put in place to limit the African American Vote. Once this act was passed and banned the use of these barriers, African American voter turnout grew exponentially and more African Americans were finally registered to vote. Federal agents were also used to guarantee the safety of African Americans who wanted to vote. -
Reed v Reed
A married but separated couple in Idaho each filed a petition to the Probate Court of Ada County in 1971 to be named as the administrator of their deceased sons estate. Idaho Code stated that “males must be preferred to females” in regards to estate.The Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of 14th Amendment prohibits discrimination based on sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The ERA was a proposed amendment that meant to guarantee women and men equal legal rights in regards to divorce, property, employment, among other things. At the Democratic National Convention of 1960, support of the ERA was proposed due to quickly gaining popularity, but shot down by members of fellow organizations. It wasn’t until 1971 that the US House of Representatives approved, and 1972 for the US Senate. It has yet to be set in place due to the states not reaching a conclusion in time. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
In 1978, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that racial quotas, like the 16 out of 100 seats set aside for minority students by the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, were prohibited, but allowed race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. -
Bowers v Hardwick
After missing a court date in 1982, Hardwick was intruded by Atlanta police officer Keith Torick during consentual oral sex between Harwick and his partner. Torick arrested the two for sodomy, a felony under Georgia law.With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hardwick sued the attorney general of Georgia for a declaratory judgment that the state's sodomy law was invalid. The court ruled 5-4 in favor of upholding the sodomy laws. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted. It requires employers and most public services to provide accommodations for mental and physical disabilities. It provides a ban on discrimination towards the disabled. -
Lawrence v Texas
In 1998, Lawrence, a gay man, was having two gay friends over. His friend was outraged by the flirting and called the police saying “a black male [was] going crazy with a gun” at Lawrences apartment. The authorities had varying recollections of the activities they saw, but the lead officer arrested the couple for “deviate sex.” In later appeals, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lawrence due to Texas statute violating the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The 2015 case was a landmark case where the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It established the requirement for all 50 states to perform and recognize same-sex marriages.
