-
Dred Scott v. Sandford
After losing his case in Missouri for his freedom, Dred Scott, an African American man, took the case to the supreme court. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sandford, saying that a “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves,” whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore did not have standing to sue in federal court. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865 in the aftermath of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” -
14th Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment, amendment (1868) to the Constitution of the United States that granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the American Civil War, including them under the umbrella phrase “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” -
15th Amendment
Guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” the amendment was successful in encouraging African Americans to vote. Many African Americans were even elected to public office during the 1880s in the states that formerly had constituted the Confederate States of America. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act, which required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. The railroad cooperated because it thought the Act imposed unnecessary costs via the purchase of additional railroad cars. When Plessy was told to vacate the whites-only car, he refused and was arrested. The Court held that the state law was constitutional. In an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, the majority upheld state-imposed racial segregation. -
19th Amendment
Officially extended the right to vote to women. In July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, then the hometown of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Seneca Falls Convention launched the women’s rights movement and also called for woman suffrage. -
White Primaries
White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. In 1944, in Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court ruled 8–1 against the Texas white primary system. In that case, the Court ruled that the 1923 Texas state law was unconstitutional, because it allowed the state Democratic Party to racially discriminate. -
Brown v. Board of Education
U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions. The decision declared that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were inherently unequal. -
Affirmative Action
An active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and for women. Affirmative action began as a government remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups and has consisted of policies, programs, and procedures that give limited preferences to minorities and women in job hiring, admission to institutions of higher education, the awarding of government contracts, and other social benefits. -
24th Amendment
Prohibited the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes before a citizen could participate in a federal election. The Twenty-fourth Amendment was adopted as a response to policies adopted in various Southern states after the ending of post-Civil War Reconstruction (1865–77) to limit the political participation of African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act
Ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction (1865–77) and is a hallmark of the American civil rights movement. Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation involved in interstate commerce. -
Poll Taxes
Poll tax has centered on its use as a mechanism of voter suppression directed originally at African Americans, especially in Southern states. Its use was declared unconstitutional in federal elections by the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, effective in 1964. -
Voting Rights Act
Overcomes legal barriers that prevented African Americans from their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The resulting act, the Voting Rights Act, suspended literacy tests, provided for federal approval of proposed changes to voting laws or procedures in jurisdictions that had previously used tests to determine voter eligibility, and directed the attorney general of the United States to challenge the use of poll taxes for state and local elections. -
Reed v. Reed
o The Idaho Probate Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing administrators of estates. n a unanimous decision, the Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. The Court argued that "[t]o gives a mandatory preference to members of either sex over members of the other... is to make the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." -
Equal Rights Amendment
The text of the Equal Rights Amendment states that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” and further that “the Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Although the ERA gained ratification of 30 states within one year of Senate approval, opposition from conservative religious and political organizations effectively brought ratification to a standstill. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Bakke contended that he was excluded from admission at the University of California solely on the basis of race. There was no single majority opinion. Four of the justices contended that any racial quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The remaining four justices held that the use of race as a criterion in admissions decisions in higher education was constitutionally permissible. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
After being charged with violating a Georgia statute that criminalized sodomy, Hardwick challenged the statute's constitutionality in Federal District Court. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional. Georgia's Attorney General, Michael J. Bowers, appealed to the Supreme Court and was granted certiorari. The Court found that there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy, and that states could outlaw those practices. -
Americans With Disabilities Act
Provided civil rights protections to individuals with physical and mental disabilities and guaranteed them equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The public-accommodations provisions, which required that necessary changes be made to afford access by persons with disabilities to all public facilities, went into effect early in 1992. -
Motor Voter Act
Commonly referred to as the Motor Voter Act, the National Voter Registration Act allows American citizens to register to vote when they are issued a driver’s license. Intended to boost the number of Americans who register, the law also requires states to create mail-in registration forms and to accept national registration forms created by the Federal Elections Commission. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence and Garner were arrested and convicted of deviate sexual intercourse in violation of a Texas statute forbidding two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct. In affirming, the State Court of Appeals held that the statute was not unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, with Bowers v. Hardwick. Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in intimate sexual conduct violates the Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court that state bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same-sex marriages duly performed in other jurisdictions are unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.