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African Americans: 3/5 Compromise
The population of slaves would be counted as three-fifths in total when apportioning Representatives, as well as Presidential electors and taxes. -
Women: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions is signed
The Declaration of Sentiments was the Seneca Falls Convention's manifesto that described women's grievances and demands. -
African Americans: Scott v. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans descent were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. -
African Americans: 13th Amendment
Abolished Slavery in the United States. -
African Americans: 14th Amendment
Extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to former slaves. -
African Americans: 15th Amendment
Granted African American men the right to vote. -
African Americans: Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality -
African Americans: Founding of the NAACP
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Women: 19th Amendment
The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. -
Women: ERA introduced into Congress
The Equal Rights Amendment would give men and women full equality under the law. -
African Americans: Smith v. Allwright
The Court reasoned that the rule restricting primary voters to whites denied Smith equal protection under the law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
African Americans: Truman orders the desegregation of armed forces
An executive order that abolished discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin in the United States Armed Forces. -
Hispanic Americans: Hernandez v. Texas
The Court decided that Mexican Americans and all other racial and national groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
African Americans: Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court Justice ruled State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment -
African Americans: Little Rock Nine
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. -
African Americans: 24th Amendment
Prohibits any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
African Americans: Civil Rights Act of 1968
Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
African Americans: Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Women: National Organization of Women organized
It is the largest feminist group in the United States, with some 500,000 members in the early 21st century. -
Hispanic Americans: Multi-member electoral districts in Texas outlawed
Congress passed a law which prohibited at-large and other multi-member elections by states with more than one House seat. -
Hispanic Americans: Founding of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
a national non-profit civil rights organization formed to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States. -
African Americans: Jones v. Mayer
The Supreme Court held that Congress could regulate the sale of private property to prevent racial discrimination. -
Sexual Orientation: Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid. -
Women: Reed v. Reed
The Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. -
Women: ERA passed by Congress
First proposed by the National Woman's political party in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. -
Women: Title IX
Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. -
Women: Congress opens all military service academies to women
An act of Congress that opened the United States Military Academies to women. -
Women: Craig v. Boren
The Court held that the statute made unconstitutional gender classifications. -
Women: Dothard v. Rawlinson
The Supreme Court held that the height and weight requirements violated Title VII because Rawlinson showed that the requirement excluded 41% of females in the nation, and the Department was unable to show that the requirement was job-related. -
Hispanic Americans: Plyler v. Doe
the Supreme Court decided that states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education on account of their immigration status. -
Women: Civil Rights and Women's Equity in Employment Act
A United States labor law, passed in response to United States Supreme Court decisions that limited the rights of employees who had sued their employers for discrimination. -
Sexual Orientation: "Don't Ask Don't Tell"
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration. -
Hispanic Americans: Cesar Chavez publicizes the plight of migrant workers
Chavez led a 250-mile Easter march from Delano to Sacramento to dramatize the plight of migrant farm laborers. That same year, Chavez's National Farm Workers Association merged with an AFL-CIO affiliate to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. -
Sexual Orientation: Defense of Marriage Act
a United States federal law that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages -
Sexual Orientation: Massachusetts legalizes same sex marriage
The decision was the first by a U.S. state's highest court to find that same-sex couples had the right to marry. -
Sexual Orientation: United States v. Windsor
The Supreme Court held that restricting U.S. federal interpretation of "marriage" and "spouse" to apply only to opposite-sex unions is unconstitutional. -
Sexual Orientation: Obergefell v. Hodges
The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry as one of the fundamental liberties it protects and that applies to same-sex couples. -
Sexual Orientation: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Masterpiece Cakeshop.
