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24th Amendment
This amendment outlawed a poll tax that was required to vote. Some people could not afford to vote because of the poll tax, so it was outlawed. -
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Civil Rights Timeline
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13th Amendment
The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. Although the amendment was supposed to free the slaves, they were not truly free because of other factors such as Black Codes, white supremacist, violence, and selective enforcement of statutes. Many of the freed slaves were still working on the same plantations and not making enough money to earn a living for themselves and move away. -
Poll Taxes (late 19th century until 1966).
This was a tax required to pay when voting at the poll. Deemed unconstitutional as of 1966, because it was generally used to disfranchised African/Native American voters. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." This includes former slaves that were freed after the Civil War. It also says that the states cannot deny citizens "life, liberty or property, without due process of law." This helped protect the people's civil rights. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. The reasoning behind this was 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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This means that no matter the person's race, color, or previous condition of servitude, they all have equal rights. -
Jim Crow Laws
These laws enforced racial segregation at state and local levels. They mandated the separation in all public facilities, such as schools, restrooms, and public transportation. The facilities were all "separate but equal" and most common in the South. -
Literacy Test (1890s to 1960s)
Used to test the literacy or proficiency of potential voters. Deemed unconstitutional in the 1960s because it disfranchised the African/Native American voters. -
Plessy v. Feguson
This court case upheld the constitutionality of state laws that required racial segregation in public facilities under the Equal Protection Clause. This meant that the Jim Crow laws that had been established were constitutional, and the states were allowed to enact these laws as long as the separate facilities were "equal." -
19th Amendment
This amendment granted women the right to vote. Prevents anybody from being denied the right to vote based on gender. Overruled the thinking that the 14th Amendment did not give women the right to vote. -
Korematsu v. United States
This case dealt with the internment camps that Japanese Americans were sent to during World War II. The court ruled that the government could place them in these camps, regardless of citizenship, because it was more important for the government to protect the country from spies, than to protect its citizens’ individual rights. This was the first time that the Supreme Court applied strict scrutiny to racial discrimination. -
Sweatt v. Painter
This court case successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation. The Supreme Court recognized that the two facilities were not "equal," which was true of almost all racially segregated facilities. Although the decision upheld the constitutionality of "separate but equal," the court did recognize that the white law school and the black law school were not "equal." This decision influenced the future case Brown v. Board of Education. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This Supreme Court case declared that racial segregation of black and white public schools was unconstitutional. This overturned the previous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson which declared that states could have "separate but equal" public facilities. Brown v. Board of Education was a major victory for the civil rights movement and helped start the process of integration in the United States, with the integration of public schools. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A protest that lasted longer than a year broke out after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1st, 1955. It lasted until the eventual ruling that segregation of buses was unconstitutional. -
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges was the first African American to attend an all-white school. Despite the multiple protests. She eventually became an activist for the people's equality. She is now the chair for the Ruby Bridges Foundation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act prohibits discrimination in public places and also desegregated schools. It also made discrimination in the workplace illegal. Signed in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed the discriminatory acts at the poll, such as literacy tests, that were put into action after the Civil War. Signed by President Lyndon Johnson. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action was introduced in the United States to combat racial discrimination, and eventually was expanded to sexes also. Employers could not discriminate against race, but they could take affirmative action in order to ensure that they were not discriminating. This meant that companies or schools could take race into consideration when making decisions in order to have more diversity. -
Loving v. Virginia
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Robert Kennedy's MLK Death Speech, Indianapolis
After hearing that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, and despite the fear of riots, Robert Kennedy decided to speak about it in Indianapolis. His speech is said to be one of the most sincere, heartfelt public addresses in history. -
Reed v. Reed
This case ruled that the administrators of estates cannot discriminate against sexes. This was an Equal Protection case. This ruling meant that administrators of estates can't prefer males over females to an estate in which they both have equal claims, in this case when someone had died. This was the first court case to declare that sex discrimination was a violation of the fourteenth amendment. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was designed to guarantee equal rights for all women. "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." -
Same-sex Sexual Activity (1977)
Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in 1977 in Indiana. This does not mean that they could get married, but they could participate in sexual activity with a member of the same sex. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This decision ruled in favor of affirmative action, and allowed race to be one of the factors of the college admittance policy. Although it was alright to take race into account to assure integration, it was not legal to have specific quotas for different races. It was thought that affirmative action was necessary to make up for past discrimination against women and minorities. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Bowers v. Hardwick ruled that a sodomy law, that outlawed oral and anal sex between two consenting adult homosexuals in private, was constitutional. This ruling was made because the constitution did not give the “right to engage in homosexual sodomy” and homosexuality was thought of as a crime worse than rape to some people. This ruling was later overturned and seen as a violation of privacy. -
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
This act provides protection for Americans with disabilities against discrimination. Basically provides the same anti-discriminatory rights for those with disibilities as the Equal Rights Amendment does for both genders and all races. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This was a landmark court case that struck down the sodomy laws that some states had. It overturned a previous decision made that allowed these laws which banned same-sex sexual activity. It was decided that intimate consensual sex conduct was part of the freedom protected by substantive due process in the fourteenth amendment. The outcome was a victory for gay rights activists. -
Fisher v. Texas
The court decided that universities could still use race as one of the many factors in the admittance process in order to gain the diversities that is necessary, but which they could not gain otherwise without affirmative action. -
Loving v. Virginia
The court’s decision declared laws prohibiting interracial marriages were unconstitutional. The laws that criminalized these marriages were a violation of the Due Process clause and the Equal Protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. This ruling increased the number of interracial marriages.
