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Civil Rights
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Dred Scott v. Sandford
This case involves a man named Dred Scott who filed a suit in the Missouri court claiming that since he had been living in Illinois, that was a free state, when he returned to Missouri, he was a free man. Scott had brought the case up on the account that this situation along with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 counts toward his case. It was brought up to the Supreme Court where it was then held that Scott was, in fact, not a free man and that the Missouri Compromise was not constitutional. -
13th Amendment
This amendment says that any form of unwilling servitude, including slavery, on a person is not allowed except as a punishment for a crime. It was deemed necessary because the Emancipation Proclamation, made by President Lincoln, did not truly end slavery for everyone in every U.S. state and territory. -
14th Amendment
This amendment gave citizenship to any and all people who are born and raised in the United States and was used by the Congress as part of the Reconstruction period to grant more civil and legal rights to black people. It also said that no state shall deprive someone the right to due process and equal protection of the law. -
15th Amendment
This amendment ,formally, gave African American men the right to vote as it said that no one can be denied the right to vote based on their race or color after the civil war. Though many practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, were still used to stop black men from voting despite this amendment being put in place. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In this case, a man classified as black sat in the whites only section of a Louisiana train in order to challenge the Separate Car Act. When in court, he said that the act went against his 13th and 14th Amendment rights. The Court held that this act was, in fact, constitutional and segregation did not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave women the right to vote. It was pushed after the Seneca Falls Convection, a large group of people coming together to discuss women's rights, where many like Susan B. Anthony fought for the public awareness of women's suffrage. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This was a collection of cases that involved situations in which African American students were denied admittance into public schools. Each case told that there had been a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Th Supreme Court held that public schools being separate but equal on the basis of race is, then, unequal and are, in fact, a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color or origin. It therefore ended segregation in public places and not allowing minorities to be denied a service based on the above conditions. It was introduced by President Kennedy after a situation involving the police's retaliation to a desegregation protest. After his assassination, it was taken up and signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act banned all of the preventive measures that were used to stop minorities from voting and gave the federal government the power to take over voter registration in areas where prominent discrimination occurs. It was pressured to Congress after Dr. Martin Luther King held a Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Selma, Alabama where there has been seemingly the most backlash against African American voters. -
Affirmative Action
This is a set of policies that were made to create an equal playing field to all people in the workforce without discrimination or mistreatment on the basis of race, color, sex or national origin. It was created by President Kennedy's Executive Order that mandated employers to take actions that would ensure equal treatment while employing and after employment. -
Jim Crow Era
The Jim Crow Laws were a collection of laws that legalized the segregation of minorities and whites that lasted around 100 years.They were used to stop African Americans from gaining a foothold in the everyday community. It allowed for separate water fountains, schools, and even shops for the two groups. It took a string of events such as the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Voting Rights Act and more to technically "end" this era. -
Reed v. Reed
This was the case in which Sally and Cecil Reed wanted to be named the administrator of their recently deceased son. According to the Idaho Probate Code, males must be preferred to woman in terms of appointing administrators of estates. This law made Cecil administrator and Sally challenged the law in court. The Court held that the law was unconstitutional as it mistreated women to men. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This is a proposed 27th amendment that would guarantee equal rights for women and would not allow the discrimination on the basis of sex. The Congress approved the amendment in 1972 and it was sent to be ratified by the states. However, at the time, only 35 of the needed 38 states ratified it. It was brought back up when Nevada signed for ratification in 2017 and Virginia became the 38 state in 2020. But debate continues over whether it should be put into place after all of the years. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This was the case in which a man named Allan Bakke applied for the University of California two years in a row and was rejected both times because they had their required number of minorities in their school even though he was more than qualified for admission. It was taken to the courts and he said that he was rejected on the basis of race. the Court held that any racial quota for the purpose of administration violates the Equal Protection Clause and ordered the school to admit Bakke. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
This involved the decision for which a man named Michael Hardwick was found engaging in the act of consensual homosexual sodomy with another adult in the state of Georgia where sodomy was criminalized for. The Court of Repeals held that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that there was no protection of sodomy in the constitution and therefore, left it up to the states. -
Americalns with Disabilities Act
This act bans discrimination of people with any and all disabilities in al areas of public life. It was heavily pushed during the 1980s for the civil rights of disabled people and especially in 1988 when vice president Bush made a proposal that he would create a bill that would integrate people with disabilities into the normal daily life. -
Motor Voter Act
More known as the National Voter Registration Act, this act allows citizens to register to vote when they receive a driver's license. This act also requires states to create mail-in registration forms. It was intended to help increase the number of voters by making it easier and more accessible to do so. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This is a case that involves a man named John Lawrence who was caught by the police engaging in a consensual sexual act with another man and was arrested on an account of violating a Texas statute that forbids two persons of the same sex to engage in sexual acts. The state Court of Appeals said that this law was not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that this law that makes sexual relations between to of the same sex did violate the Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
This involved a group of cases that were brought up against the states of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee that challenged the states use of laws that banned refused to recognize same-sex marriages. Each case said that these laws were a violation of the Equal Protection Due Process Clause. The Court held that the 14th Amendment required states to license and recognize same-sex marriages.