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Dred Scott v. Sandford
The US Supreme Court decided to hold slavery in certain US territories and, Dred Scott, a freed slave, was denied all citizenship in America causing the Missouri compromise to be unconstitutional. -
13th Amendment
The rule passed by Congress that abolished slavery, unpaid labor, and any involuntary servitude unless used as a punishment for criminal activities in the United States. -
15th Amendment
Congress passes a rule that grants African American men the right to vote. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A court case that decided to be "separate but equal" and on that date upheld state-imposed Jim Crow Laws. -
19th Amendment
Passed by Congress granted Women the right to vote -
White Primaries
Primary elections held in the Southern states of the United States in which only white voters were allowed to participate. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court Justice, Earl Warren, delivers the unanimous ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that State-sanction segregation of public schools were a violation to the 14th Amendment, making it unconstitutional. -
24th Amendment
Congress passes a rule allowing all citizens of the United States to vote in any election (wether it be primary elections or any other election), and their vote shall not be denied or abridged due to failure to pay poll tax, etc. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Congress passes a public law that prohibits discrimination against anyone based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
Affirmative Action
A set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants. remedy the results of such prior discrimination and prevent discrimination in the future. -
Voting Rights of 1965
President Lyndon Johnson passes a law that outlaws the discriminatory voting practices that were adopted by southern states after the Civil War including the test of literacy that was required prior to voting. -
Poll Taxes
Head Tax of a fixed amount per person levied on adults and often linked to the right to vote. -
14th Amendment
Congress passes a ruling saying, so State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -
Reed v. Reed
In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. The Court argued that "[t]o give a mandatory preference to members of either sex over members of the other, merely to accomplish the elimination of hearings on the merits, is to make the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
n Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but a school's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was constitutional in some circumstances. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A Court Case that was ruled to not constitutionally protect the right for homosexual adult men to participate consensual sodomy in private. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
A Federal/Civil rights law that was passed that prohibited the discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. -
Motor Voter Act
The "Motor Voter" Law was signed to make registration to vote easier for Americans -
Lawrence v. Texas
A Supreme Court case passed in which the court ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for consensual, adult non-procreative sexual activity would be unconstitutional. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
A case in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage.