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Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri when his owner died and he was bought by Emerson and taken to Illinois, a free state. His owner died and he tried to fight for the family's freedom. He stated that since they lived in a state where slavery was banned, they should be freed. His case went to court and he lost because congress said slaves are property and not people. The family got a retrial in 1850 and won at first. Then the lower courts reversed the trial making the family slaves again. -
13th Amendment
Abraham Lincoln helped a lot to try to abolish slavery. His Emancipation Proclamation in 1963 stated that all slaves held in the United States should be free. On January 31, 1965 the House of Representatives passed the proposed 13th amendment with a little over the 2/3 votes. This amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United states. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment granted citizenship to African Americans. They all gave equal civil and legal rights no matter where they are in the United States. This amendment changed the decision of the Dred Scott case that said a black man born free could still not claim citizenship. Then any state that did not follow this amendment would be punished and the military will come down and make the state follow the rules. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment gave African American men the right to vote. But in the south, black men were still denied their right to vote with literacy tests. -
Plessy vs. Freguson
This case stemmed from Homer Plessy sitting in a white-only car and refusing to move to the African Americans' car on the train. The court said that segregation between whites and blacks was not unconstitutional. the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal" -
White Primaries
These primary elections were held in the south. Only white voters were allowed to partake in the voting booths. This limited the African Americans' influence in political elections. In the Smith vs. Allwright court case, it overturned the use of white primaries. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment gave women the right to vote.No one in the United States could be denied the right to vote. This right is known as woman suffrage and ended a century of protest. The Seneca Falls Convention is one example of the woman's right movement. -
Brown vs Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of Education was a landmark case that decided that racial segregation as unconstitutional in public schools. The court decided unanimously that separate facilities are very unequal. The case originally stemmed from Oliver Brown's daughter was refused entry to a school close to their home because she was African American, and required her to ride a bus a segregated school which caused brown and other families to file a class suit. -
Poll Taxes
A poll tax is a tax imposed on every individual. Poll taxes were a major source of government funding for the colonies. There were some in the northern and western states but mostly in the south to eradicate the ability for African Americans to vote. The 24th amendment made poll taxes illegal. -
24th amendment
Some citizens, like African Americans, were heavily taxed making them not able to vote in any federal election. This amendment outlawed poll taxes or any type of taxes on any election. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Many states around the United States still did no treat everyone equally. From protests Kennedy initiated the new anti-discrimination act.This act was proposed by President John F. Kennedy in June 1963. Then was finally signed into a law by Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964 when he became president. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation and discrimination according to race,color, religion, sex, and national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Around the 1950s and 1960s African Americans attempted to vote and mainly in the south, there right was taken away. The people in charge would give them impossible literacy tests so that way they could never pass. They would also be threatened or mistreated. Therefore on August 6, 1965 after debating for many months, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed. This banned the literacy tests and banned the racial discrimination in voting. -
Reed vs. Reed
This court case was an equal right protection act in which the court said that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. The case came from a couple who had separated and couldn't decide on an administrator on their estate of their deceased son. The Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Reed v. Reed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment was first proposed by the Nationals Woman's party. It provided the legal equality of all sexes and prohibit any discrimination on the basis of sex. It guarantees equal rights between men and women in matters of divorce, property, and employment. -
Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick
The case arose on August 3, 1982, when a police officer who had been admitted to the home of Michael Hardwick in Atlanta witnessed him and a male companion in a bedroom engaging in sex. The officer had been executing a warrant for Hardwick. The officer promptly arrested both men for violating Georgia’s antisodomy statute. Hardwick filed a lawsuit saying his privacy was being invaded. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
When the police were searching for Hardwick is his home, they found him and another man engaging in illegal sexual activity. They were both arrested for the offense of sodomy. The court ruled that the constitution does not protect gays from being able to do whatever they want with a person of the same sex. Hardwick tried to sue saying that the constitution did protect him but after a 5 ot 4 decision, the courts ruled that the constitution did not protect him and his charges stayed. -
Americans with disabilities
This law prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities. This law does not allow discrimination about the disabled in all public areas such as jobs, schools, and public transportation and any private place open to the general public. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This court case overturned Bowers v. Hardwick because it ruled that criminalizing sexual conduct between two adults of the same sex was unconstitutional. The courts reaffirmed that people have the right to privacy. The 14th amendment of due process was violated when the courts said that homosexuality was illegal. -
Lawrence vs. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that American laws prohibiting private homosexual activity between consenting adults as unconstitutional. This ruling overruled the case of Bowers vs. Hardwick that happened in 1986. Lawrence and Garner were arrested for having sex with one another and were charged found guilty. -
Obergefall vs. Hodges
This case comes from many same-sex couples going to the court asking for the right to marry. Couples from Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky that prohibited same-sex couples from marrying and/or forbid the state from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples lawfully entered into in other states. This case went to the Supreme Court and was denied and said they weren't allowed to get married if they were of the same sex. -
Affirmative Action (Fisher vs. University of Texas)
Affirmative action in the United States is a set of laws, policies, guidelines, and administrative practices "intended to end and correct the effects of a specific form of discrimination" that include government-mandated, government-sanctioned and voluntary private programs.
