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13th Amendment
This amendment abolished slavery. -
14th Amendment
This gave citizenship to all people born in the United States. This was part of Reconstruction and giving black people rights. -
15th Amendment
Any man can vote regardless or race, color, or previous servitude. This was part of Reconstruction and giving black people rights. -
Jim Crows
These are laws that allow for institutionalized racism. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This court case found that the "separate but equal" provision of private services mandated by state governments was constitutional under the equal protection clause. -
19th Amendment
The amendment that finally gave women the right to vote in America. -
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed amendment to congress that guarntees equal rights for women. first proposed in 1923 and passed congress in 1972. -
Poll Taxes
Taxes that were implemented to prevent eligible people from voting. -
Literacy Tests
Tests that were used to prevent immigrants from being able to vote. Considering the questions on these tests were very difficult to new people in the country, they were set up to fail. -
Korematsu v. United States
During WWII, the United States interned Japanese-Americans. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this decision. The U.S. has since said the court made an era. -
Sweatt v. Painter
This case overturned a "separate but equal" situation. This was an influence in the Supreme Court's later deciison in Brown v. Board of Education. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The court finally overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine. They decided that separate but equal is inherently unequal. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Blacks refused to ride the bus in Montgomery as protest for Rosa Parks getting arrested for refusing to segregate the bus. -
Affirmative Action
This is the idea of giving minorities preferential treatment with certain things. These measures are meant to give opportunities to minorities and prevent discrimination. -
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges was the first african american to attend a white school. -
24th Amendment
This prohibited poll taxes. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The landmark piece of legislation that outlawed any discrimination of a person's race, sex, or orgin. Signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Also signed into law by Lyndon Johnson, this piece of legislature outlawed any racial discrimination in voting. -
Loving v. Virginia
A white man and a black woman got married in Virginia. They were subsequently sentened to one year in prison. The court found the law to be unconstitutional. -
Robert Kennedy Speech
Upon hearing about the assasination of Martin Luther King Robert Kennedy gave a brief, passionate speech over the need for peace. He gave this speech in the heart of the ghetto in Indianapolis and it is a renound speech to this day. -
Reed v. Reed
A law in Idaho said that men were given preferential treatment to women in appointing adminstrators to an estate. The court overturned this citing the equal protection clause. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
The Supreme Court determined that race could be a factor in college admissions but specific quotas could not. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Two homosexual men were charged with sodomy. Hardwick appealed. The Supreme Court found that sodomy laws are constitutional when applied to homosexuals. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
Law that prevents discrimination based on disabilities. It also requires employers to provide proper accomidations to employees with disabilities. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This was a similar case to Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). However, this time the Supreme Court overturned the precedent set in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). The court said that people have sexual privacy. -
Fisher v. Texas
A white student from Texas sued the University of Texas because she believed she was not admitted becasue she was white. The lower courts upheld the university's policy of affirmative action. -
Indiana Gay Rights Case
Indiana is having an ongoing legal battle with the issue of gay rights. A district court recently decided that Indiana's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. The case is currently awaiting further appeal.
