-
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery at the conclusion of the Civil War. This action was seen as necessary by Abe Lincoln to preserve the Union. The 13th amendment states that slavery or “involuntary servitude” is not allowed except for punishment as a crime in which the guilty party has been found guilty under the court of law. -
14th Amendment
The first section states that all people born in the United States are automatically U.S citizens. Section two sets up how representatives will be proportioned by each state and takes in consideration African Americans in population of the states. Section three states that people that have rebelled against the government cannot hold public office. Section four states that debts caused by emancipated slaves cannot be paid for. Lastly, section five gives power to Congress to enforce these rules. -
15th Amendment
The fifteenth amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. Although ratified in 1870, the amendment would not be fully granted until about a century later due to literacy tests and poll taxes. -
Period: to
Jim Crow Laws
These laws covered many amendment's and lots of different laws. The basic idea behind all of these laws was to enforce racial segregation in the South between 1877 and 1950. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This was a landmark case that upheld the notion of “separate but equal”. This case pertained to a mixed race man choosing to sit on the white car of a train. This was enforced under the Separate Car Act. “Separate but Equal” remained until the decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1945. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave voting rights to women stating that voting rights cannot be discriminated by sex. Past amendments regarding voting only mentioned “men” and never allowed women to vote. This was passed about 30 years after the movement for women’s rights was launched. -
Korematsu v. United States
This case questioned whether or not putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps was constitutional. This executive order was taking place during WWII and was in-effect for all Japanese-Americans regardless of citizenship. Surprisingly, the Supreme Court ruled that the government was acting constitutionally. -
Sweatt v. Painter
This case was the first to successfully question whether or not the idea of “separate but equal” was constiutional. This case pertained to a law created while a case was in court regarding an African American student going to a certain school. This case served to be very influential to the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This court case overturned aspects of Plessy v. Ferguson which allowed the idea of “separate but equal”. This case also called for integration of public schools stating that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”. This case was argued by NAACP chief counsel Thurgood Marshall. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The bus boycott began four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat up to a white man on a bus. The bus boycott began to protest segregated seating. Eventually, the supreme court ordered Montgomery to integrate the seating on buses. This led to Martin Luther King Jr. to gaining much popularity as he was a leader of the boycott. -
Affirmative Action
This is a set of policies that is “intended to end and correct the effects of a specific form of discrimination”. This was started by President Kennedy under Executive Order 10925 which required government contractors to consider affirmative steps that would be used by executive departments. -
JFK Address to the Nation of Civil Rights
JFK calls on all Americans to act towards civil rights. In this televised speech, he explains the causes of racial discrimination. This furthered the movement towards civil rights. -
24th Amendment
This abolished poll taxes for all elections at the federal level. This allowed African Americans to easily vote without being discriminated against. -
Poll Taxes
These were implemented to lessen the African American vote after the passing of the 15th amendment. This made it so essentially only wealthy white people could vote. These were abolished by the 24th amendment. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act, proposed by JFK, ended segregation in public areas and ended discrimination for employment. These public places included courthouses, restaurants, parks. The act initially received much scrutiny from southerners in Congress. Eventually JFK’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed it into law. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
An Act passed by President Lyndon Johnson's that was aimed to overcome issues that still existed even under the 15th amendment. For example, there were barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from voting. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy tests were tests given to potential African American voters to see if they were competent enough to vote. These followed the 15th amendment because it still allowed African Americans to vote, so as long they could pass the test. Eventually, these were rules as practices of discrimination and were no longer allowed. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis Upon Death of MLK
After the death of Martin Luther King Jr., there were many riots in major cities across America. However, because Robert Kennedy was in Indianapolis, he gave a speech that urged people to calm racial prejudices. This led to there being no riots in Indianapolis. -
Reed v. Reed
Two couples who were getting divorced had to decide who would get custody of their son. When they filed, the Idaho codes specified that “males must be preferred to females”. Sally Reed took the case to the Supreme Court and argued that the 14th amendment does not allow discrimination on sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This was passed after the 19th amendment by a suffragist leader to serve to bring “equal justice under law” to all people regardless of race of sex. -
Title IX
Prohibited sex discrimination in schools that received federal funding.Under Title IX schools legally have to respond to situations regarding sexual harassment and sexual violence. This was passed by Richard Nixon. -
De Jure Segregation
This is segregation of different races. A prime example of this would be the treatment of African Americans under the Jim Crow laws in the south. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This was a case in the supreme court that argued that racial quotas were unconstitutional in the admissions process. Although this was ruled unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled that a school’s use of affirmative action to accept more minorities was acceptable. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
This supreme court case upheld a sodomy law in Georgia. Essentially the law was put in place to “burden” gay couples. In 2003, the decision was eventually overturned. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This law, passed by Congress, was the first law regarding needs of people with disabilities and prohibited discrimination of these people in the workplace. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This Supreme Court case regarded the prior Bowers v. Hardwick case which upheld the sodomy law in Georgia. Unlike the last case, this one overturned the ruling which made “same-sex sexual activity legal in every state”. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
This supreme court case argued for same sex marriage. This case won 5-4. This was after the state in which Obergefell resided would not allow a same sex marriage to take place. -
Fisher v. University of Texas
This supreme court case was similar to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in that they pertained to race and admissions policy. In this case, the constitutionality of race-sensitive admissions policies. The ruling was that strict scrutiny should be applied.
