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Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott wanted to be free, but his multiple owners wouldn’t let him. Finally, he sued under 2 accounts. The first was that he was wrongfully enslaved and the second was that any person taken to a free territory automatically became free and could not be re-enslaved upon returning to a slave state. He took it to the Supreme Court under his new owner John Sanford, but they voted against him. They said that slaves don't have the right to sue and that he was legal property under his owner. -
13th Amendment
This amendment fully abolishes slavery under the U.S Constitution. There are 2 main sections to it. The first states that no slavery or forced servitude is allowed, unless as a punishment, in the U.S or its territories. The second section says that Congress has the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. This amendment originally came from the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the South, but now it is a national policy. -
14th Amendment
This amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. No state shall try to take away these rights or deprive a person of life, liberty, or prosperity without due process. They have an equal protection of the laws. Also, if any male over 21 is prevented from voting, then the State’s apportionment in Congress is reduced. Lastly, no person shall be in Congress, President, or hold any office if they have engaged in rebellion or given aid to the enemies. -
15th Amendment
This amendment was the right for citizens of the United States to vote with no regard to race, color, previous condition of forced servitude. This basically gave African-Americans the right to vote in the South that wasn't previously granted to them due to unfair poll taxes and literacy tests. Congress also shall have the power to enforce this law properly over all the states by appropriate legislation. This made sure that the law is being kept nationally. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
This case upheld racial segregation in the United States, and established the “separate but equal” doctrine. The “separate but equal” doctrine said that segregation was constitutional as long as the quality of the separate facilities were equal. While this decision has never been explicitly overruled, many other decisions have been made, such as Brown vs Board of Education, that made this verdict all but worthless. -
Poll Taxes
This is a sum of money that people had to pay in order to vote. The Southern States used this as one of the ways to keep African Americans and poor whites from voting in the elections and keep government power for rich white men only. Most of them couldn't afford the tax because they made it too expensive. They would rather feed their families than waste a large sum of money to vote. -
White Primaries
These are primary elections held in the Southern States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. This was meant to farther disenfranchise most black and other minority voters. They were first developed by the state democratic party or by state legislatures in South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama. Other Southern states joined in until the 14th amendment made these pimaries illegal accross the nation. -
19th Amendment
This amendment granted American women the right to vote and ended Women's suffrage. This campaign for women's sufferage started back in the 1820s when many American women were resisting the notion that the ideal woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother that only took care of the home and family. They felt like they were being denied some of the basic rights enjoyed by men. They mostly felt that it was an inalienable right to be able to vote, so they fought long and hard till it was passed. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified in 37 of the 50 states and is being passed in order to guarantee equal legal rights from all Americans, regardless of their sex. The specific goals of this ratification are to end discrimination in different matters such as divorce, property, employment. During the last decade, due to fourth wave feminism and the Me Too movement, push for the last 13 states to rating the amendment has increased. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs Board of education defined segregation in public schools as unconstitutional no matter if they were equal in quality or not. The supreme court’s decision was unanimous and they determined that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”, violating the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. This case is still important today because it pushed ahead integration, and was a big step for the Civil Rights Movement at the time. -
24th Amendment
Poll taxes were used in the South to keep African Americans, other minorities, and poor whites from voting in any election. Luckily, this amendment abolished them completely. Basically it states that the right of U.S citizens to vote in any election or primary for any member of Congress or President and Vice President cannot be denied for any reason due to failure to pay any poll tax. It is an inalienable right of an American citizen to be able to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This was a landmark civil rights and labor law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Under its law, this act prohibits racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. Some public accommodations include courthouses, parks, theaters, and hotels. No longer could blacks and other minorities be denied service simply based on the color of their skin. They also have an equal chance of employment by employers and labor unions. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This was a federal legislation signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson where it prohibited racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law during the height of the civil rights movement in 1965, and Congress has amended the Act five times to expand its protections. The act was designed to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments of the United States Constitution. It is considered to be one of the most far-reaching pieces of Civil Rights Legislation. -
Reed v. Reed
This case was another sex discrimination dispute that decided that adminstrators of estates cannot prefer one sex over the other. In the case, two parents were fighting to be administrator of the estate for their deceased son, which the father ultimately got. The idaho code where they lived specified that "males must be preferred to females". The Supreme Court then ruled that this violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, and that the idaho code was unconstitutional. -
Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke
The case decision upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of the qualifiers in college admission, but not allowing a quota for racial student admissions. This specific case challenged the legality of affirmative action because Bakke was rejected from the school based on ageist policies despite his stellar academic accomplishments. After being accepted post court case, the university refused to pay the legal fees. Bakke took them to court again and won $183,089. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action in not one decision but the name describing a collection of policies that help members of disadvantaged groups, usually of a racial or ethnic minority. These policies can affect areas such as education, employment, or housing in an effort to correct past wrongs, or promote future diversity for two examples of motivations for affirmative action policies. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick
Bowers vs. Hardwick was a case that upheld a Georgia law that criminalized any kind of sodomy, heterosexual or homosexual. This decision was made because of the mentality of Americans at the time. They had spent decades upon decades teaching their youth how much of a sin homosexual activity was, and no matter how right the decision to allow homosexual activity was, the american public simply were not ready for it yet. This decision was overturned in the court during the Lawrence vs. Texas case. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Its protections are similar to those established in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but they also include the requirement of employers to provide accommodations to persons with disabilities. Besides employment, this act also mandates that accessibility requirements be made available at public accommodations for the disabled individual and also their service animal if they have one. -
Lawrence vs. Texas
In this case, it was determined that any laws prohibiting consenting american adults from practicing homosexual acts are unconstituional. As of 1960, every state had an anti-sodomy law, but by the time this decision went into effect most of the American states no longer had any sodomy laws. This was another court case that protected Americans’ right to privacy. The decision was a landmark case that set the stage for many other gay-rights cases such as Obergefell vs. Hodges. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
This case decided that same sex partners are guaranteed the same marital rights as opposite couples due to the 14th amendment. Both the due process clause and the equal protection clause are the reasons that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Jim Obergefell. This decision also mandated that all states must recognize the validity of same-sex marraiges officiated in other jurisidictions.
