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Civil Rights Timeline

  • Scott v. Sandford (1857)

    The Dred Scott Case was a decade-long fight over Dred Scott's freedom. Dred Scott was a black slave and the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional and Scott won his freedom.
  • Reconstruction (1865-1877)

    13th A- abolished slavery
    14th A- granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the American Civil War
    15th A- Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on the race.
    24th A- prohibits any poll tax in elections for federal officials.
  • Jim Crow Era (1877-1960s)

    Jim crow laws were laws created by white southerners to enforce racial segregation across the South from the 1870s to the 1960s.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

    White and black people had to be separate but equal.
  • 19th Amendment (1920)

    Citizens of the United States should not be denied the right to vote.
  • Scottsboro Boys (1931-1937)

    The Scottsboro Boys case were nine African American teenagers accused of raping two white women in Alabama. The supreme court ruled innocent after many trails.
  • George Stinney case (1944)

    George Stinney was a 14-year-old accused of murdering someone in the south. The supreme court ruled guilty.
  • Brown v. Board (1954)

    Outlawed segregation in public schools.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. To prohibits the unequal application of voter registration requirements.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Ended voting discrimination.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    Prohibited housing discrimination. Like refusal to sell or rent a house to someone based on their race.
  • California v. Bakke (1978) & Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

    The decision permitted the use of racial preference in student admissions to promote student diversity.
  • Meredith v. Jefferson Co Board (2007) (Louisville school integration)

    Universities cannot accept/decline students based on their race and the school's racial diversity.
  • Shelby County v. Holder (2013) (elimination of preclearance enforcement)

    States need to get permission from the federal government before changing voting laws.