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13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was passed on January 31st 1865. It declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment faor crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." In other words, this was the amendment that abolished slavery. -
Poll Taxes
Poll Taxes were taxes that citizens were required to pay in order to vote in some states. These taxes are often considered part of Jim Crow Laws due to the fact that the taxes were created for, and mainly affected, black people. -
The 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment, alongside the 13th and 15th Amendments, are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. The 4 key principals in the 14th Amendment are any person, regardless of color, both born and naturalized in the US, were to have their state and federal citizenships reaffirmed, that no state would be able to take away the "privileges and immunities" of citizens, that no person was to be denied life, liberty, or property without "due process of law", and that all laws protect people equally. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment, alongside the 13th and 14th Amendments, is known as a Reconstruction Amendment. The 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote by stating that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws, named after a famous entertainer who portrayed African-American slaves in a very negative light, were laws passed between 1876 and 1965 in the South that mandated the separation of blacks and whites be means of a "Seperate-but-Equal" Clause. This both led to and perpetuated the belief that African-Americans were inferior to whites. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy Tests were given out to mainly African-Americans who had never voted before. The tests did not have to be taken if one had previously voted, or had a parent that had previously voted. The Literacy Tests were criticized for targeting the African-American population, and for their extreme difficulty. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
In 1892, Lousiana enacted a law that required trains to have seperate railway cars for blacks and whites. Homer Plessy, who was 7/8ths caucasion, sat in the white section of a train. He was later arrested for refusing to move. The court ruled 7 to 1 in favor of Ferguson. The ruling was due to the belief that state laws are not within constitutional bounds. -
The 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment was originally drafted and introduced by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1879, but it was not until 1920, 41 years later, that Congress submitted the Amendment to the states for approval. The Amendment allowed women to vote for the first time, by stating that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." -
Korematsu vs. United States
During Wolrd War II, Presidential Executive Order 9066 was enacted. This Executive Order stated that Japanese were allowed to be excluded from areas deemed "critical" to national security. Korematsu filed a lawsuit, claiming that the Executive Order was unconsititutional, and violated basic human rights. The court sided with the US. This is significant because the ruling set a precident that it was constitutional to exclude a race from something deemed necessary for national security -
Sweatt vs. Painter
In 1950, Heman Sweatt applied to the University of Texas Law School, a school for whites only, where his application was automatically rejected because of his race. The University pointed him to a black law school what was obviously inferior to the white school. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for Sweatt to be rejected soley based on race, and that the black law school was significantly inferior to the white law school. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Public school were segregated by law in many states. Although it was found that black and white school systems were nearly equal in terms of buildings, teacher saleries, curricula, and qualifications, the court found it detrimental for minority students to be in a separate school, as it creates and perpetuates the belief that they are inferior to their white peers. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was an event that took place during the Civil Rights Movement in which a large number of people boycotted the Montgomery public transit system. This boycott was spurned by Rosa Park's refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that the segregation within the public transit system was unconstitutional. Many important Civil Rights Movement figures participated in this march such as Martin Luther King Jr. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action is a controversial law first signed into law by Executive Order 10925. It prohibits the discrimination of employers from discriminating against employees of applicants for their "race, creed, color, or national origin". The law was later amended to also include sex. Affirmative Action has been banned in several states including California and Washington. -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibited the use of a poll tax, something that had prevented African-Americans from voting for a very long time in many Southern states, by declaring that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax". -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, gender, and country of origin. The legislation ended the segregation of schools, Jim Crow laws, and many other discriminatory practices. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark piece of legislation that was signed into law during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The legislation prohibited racial discriminatioin in voting. -
Robert Kennedy's Speech in Indianapolis upon the death of MLK
On the eve of MLK's assassionation, Robert Kennedy, despite fear of riots and for his own safety, decided to address the public at 17th and Broadway, right in the middle of a ghetto in Indianapolis, and delivered what is considered to be one of the greatest public addresses of all time. -
Reed vs. Reed
The Idaho Probate Code stated that "males must be preferred to females" when deciding who to award real estate to. This was brought to attention in Reed vs. Reed when a separated couple's son died, and both parents wanted to become administrator of his property. The property was awarded to the father. The mother sued, saying that the Idaho Probate Code was unconstitutional. The court unanimously sided with her. -
Regents of the University of California vs Bakke
Allan Bakke, a white man whose application to the University of California was rejected two different times, had a better GPA and better qualifications than the one hundred students admitted due to 100 spots being reserved for minority students. The court narrowly ruled that it was unconstitutional for the University to reserve 100 spots for minority students. -
The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed Amendment written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman that stated 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." It was introduced to Congress in 1923. In 1977, the bill passed in both houses of congress and went to the states for ratification, where it failed to be ratified by the needed number of states by the set deadline of March 22, 1979. -
Bowers vs Hardwick
Michael Hardwich was seen by a police officer engaging in consensual homosexual sodomy. Hardwich was charged with violating a Georgia State Statute that banned sodomy. Hardwich argued that the law was unconstitutional, but it was ruled that the constitution did not protect sodomy, and that sodomy was subject to state law. -
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Americans with Disabilites Act (ADA) is a law enacted in 1990 that prohibits discrimination based on disability. The law also offers similar protections to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law was amended in 2009. -
Lawrence vs. Texas
A police officer responding to a disturbance call disovered John Lawrence engaging in consensual sexual intercourse with another man. Lawrence was arrested and charged with breaking a law that prohibits " two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct". The court ruled with Lawrence that the law was unconstitutional. This was a big step in the struggle for gay rights. -
Fisher vs. Texas
Abigail Fisher applied to the University of Texas, a school that uses race as a consideration when admitting students outside of the top ten percent of their class. Fisher argued that the fact that race was used as a consideration for admission was unconstitutional. The court ruled in favor of Fisher. This is significant because it outlawed the use of race in considerations for admissions for colleges in Texas. -
Gay Marriage Rights in Indiana
On June 25, 2014, the supreme court struck down Indiana's DOMA, declaring that it was unconstitutional. This decision only lasted for two days, until the court blocked its own order, saying that the majority of chief justices wanted state bans to remain in place until they reach a decision as to whether or not to hear lawsuits against the bans.
