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Dred Scott V Sanford
Scott claimed freedom from slavery because he resided in the free state of Illinois from 1833-1843. He was ruled a slave still by a Federal court, so he appealed to the Supreme Court. He was once again ruled against at the Supreme Court, and denied his freedom -
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Civil Rights Timeline
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13th amendment
The 13th amendment freed the slaves held captive, deeming slavery unconstitutional, and required the states brought back to the Union to free their currently enslaved people -
14th amendment
The 14th amendment gave all people, born or naturalized in the U.S., citizenship. This included former slaves -
15th amendment
The 15th amendment allowed for African Americans to be able to vote. Racist whites used to force African Americans to try and answer absurd answers about the government in order to vote, and when they answered one wrong they were deemed not educated to vote, which finally changed with the ratification of this amendment -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Homer Plessy, a 7/8 white and 1/8 black male, decided to sit in the white-only car of a train. He was arrested and in court argued that it violated the 13th and 14th amendments. He was convicted in Federal court, and appealed to the Supreme Court, where he was once again convicted -
19th Amendment
After a long, perilous struggle to allow women to vote, the 19th amendment finally gave women the right to vote, which was a milestone for the American Government -
Brown v. BOE
African American students had been denied from public school on the basis that schools were segregated based on race. They argued that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The result was a unanimous vote for Brown -
24th amendment
The 24th amendment forbids the taxing of voters when voting in federal election. Taxing the people for voting eliminated some of Americans who couldn't afford to pay for the tax, essentially silencing a portion of voters from electing who they wanted. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This included when hiring, firing, and promoting in the workforce. The fight for Civil Rights gained a huge victory when this was ratified -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is defined as a set of regulations put in place to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants. It first appeared when president Kennedy signed it into an Executive order in 1965 -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting rights act of 1965 was put in place to enforce the rights of the 5th amendment. Blacks in the south faced many forms of persecution that prevented them from voting, and this act was ratified to prevent that from happening again -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was written to reaffirm that equality based on sex shoudn't be denied under the Law of the U.S. This law still hasn't bee ratified by all 50 states, with Virginia most recently ratifying it -
Title IX
This Act prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program funded by the federal government -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Allan Bakke, a 31 year old white male, was denied access to Cal's Medical School twice, because of the school reserving scholarships for 16 qualified minorities, even though Bakke's qualifications far exceeded those minorities. The result was an 8-1 decision for Bakke -
Bowers v. Hardwick
The question of this case was if the Constitution can confer a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in consensual sodomy. The decision was a 5-4 decision in Bower's favor. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This Act prohibits the discrimination of people with disabilities in several areas, including those of employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government' programs and services. This Act hasn't been ratified by all 50 states yet. -
Shelby County v. Holder
Shelby County, Alabama, filed suit in court, saying that Section 5 and 4(b) were unconstitutional, and an injunction against their enforcement. The result was a 5-4 vote in favor of Shelby County -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Groups of same-sex couples sued their states agencies for refusal to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The question of the case was, does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that was legally licensed and performed in another state? As well as does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? The result was a 5-4 vote in favor of Obergefell. -
Voter ID Laws
States have required voters to show some form of Identification when voting. 14 states and Washington D.C., use different means of verifying voters identities.