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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott tried to sue his master for holding him as a slave in Missouri, which was a free state. The court held that slaves were property, not citizens, meaning he couldn't sue Sanford. This decision aided the country in discriminating and limiting African American's rights because only citizens had the rights outlined in the Constitution. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, formally putting an end to slavery. The Amendment served as a more permanent solution than Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. It took multiple votes in the House of Representatives to make it past Congress and almost a year for states to ratify the Amendment, but it was finally ratified in December of 1865. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution is known as one of the most important acts by government throughout history. With the ratification of the 14th Amendment, citizens' rights stated in the Bill of Rights could be incorporated to states from the Due Process Clause. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment also helped minority groups gain rights. It also gave citizenship to all former slaves. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. The Amendment states that the government can't deny people the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" but doesn't give women the right to vote. Despite legally being allowed, many states passed laws making it very difficult for African Americans to vote, such as literacy tests. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a segregated train car so that he could fight segregation in courts. This case found that segregation was Constitutional, as long as everyone was provided with equal facilities. This became known as the separate but equal doctrine and helped defend segregation. This doctrine was overturned more than 50 years later in the Brown v. Board of Education case. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment secured the voting rights of women. Passing this amendment took decades of protests and work by people throughout the country and is one of the biggest victories in securing women's rights. -
Jim Crow Era
The Jim Crow Era occurred after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s. Jim Crow laws worked to enforce racial segregation and were especially prominent in Southern states. These laws were upheld by the Plessy v. Ferguson case when the Supreme Court decided that separate but equal facilities were lawful. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education overturned the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Separate but equal facilities were found unconstitutional because they were inherently unequal and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This case started the end of segregation, but it still took years for segregation to formally end. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action is a kind of positive discrimination in which organizations give preference to minorities where they are underrepresented. This is common in higher education where colleges will withhold a certain number of spaces for minorities to give them a better opportunity of acceptance. Affirmative Action is in place to try to lessen the effects of prior discrimination and give minorities a better chance without discrimination. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned all segregation on the grounds of race, religion, or national origin. This act finally put an end to the Jim Crow laws that states had in effect for over 50 years. This was an extremely important act of government to ensure the freedom of all citizens. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting, putting an end to unfair voting laws that limited African Americans from using their right to vote. Despite technically being able to vote by the 15th Amendment since 1870, unfair voting laws such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and more were passed to limit African Americans from voting. This act put an end to these unfair laws and is seen as one of the most successful parts of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Reed v. Reed
An Idaho code specifically stated that males were preferred over females when deciding the administrators of estates. After losing her son's estate, Sally Reed challenged the code in the Supreme Court. The court found that treating men and women differently solely because of sex was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This was the first time the court overturned a law that discriminated against women. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee equal protection regardless of sex. It was passed by Congress and sent to states for ratification but only received 35 out of the 38 states necessary for ratification. Its ratification was mostly stopped by conservative women who would disadvantage housewives and wouldn't have as many protections in alimony or child custody. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
After being denied from medical school twice despite having better qualifications than minorities that were admitted, Bakke challenged that he was denied from the school solely based on race. The majority of the Supreme Court decided that any racial quota violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. However, some consideration of race is allowed for admission decision for affirmative action. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
After being arrested for consensual homosexual sodomy, Georgia's Attorney General appealed to the Supreme Court that the Constitution protects consensual sodomy. The court found that the Constitution did not protect sodomy and that states could outlaw it. This decision was overturned in the Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. This act is the reason that every public building has handicapped parking spots and ramps or elevators are found wherever there are stairs. Many say that the ADA was ineffective in hiring people with disabilities because it puts employers in fear of a lawsuit and makes their employment more expensive. -
Motor Voter Act
The National Voter Registration Act, or the Motor Voter Act, extended voting rights for people that renews a driver's license or applies for public assistance. For these citizens, the Motor Voter Act makes voting registration much easier and resulted in an increase in voting registration in the following elections. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This case overturned the Bowers v. Hardwick case of 1986. After being arrested for violating a Texas statute that outlaws sexual conduct with the same sex, Lawrence argued that the law was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court found that the law violated the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment and that states couldn't outlaw sexual conduct with the same sex. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The Obergefell v. Hodges case was a huge push for LGBTQ+ rights by legalizing same-sex marriage. Groups tried suing 4 states that didn't allow same-sex marriage and didn't recognize same-sex marriage that was done in other states. After taking the case to the Supreme Court, the court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage because of the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
