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Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave located in Missouri. The time from 1833 to 1843, Scott had resided in Illinois (a free state) and also in the Louisiana Territory where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Returning from Missouri, Scott had filed a suit claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. After losing, Scott had brought in a new suit in Federal Court. Scott's master claimed that no "negro" or descendant of slaves could be a citizen in Article 3 of Const. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States - including former enslaved people - and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws." -
15th Amendment
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. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. -
The 19th Amendment
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 or race. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court declared the doctrine of "separate but equal" unconstitutional and handed LDF the most celebrated victory in its storied history. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of the civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Reed vs. Reed
Landmark decision of the US Supreme Court ruling that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. -
Title IX
Prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. -
Regents of University of California vs. Bakke
Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but school's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was unconstitutional in some circumstances. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
Prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services. -
Obergefell vs. Hodges
The United States Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that same-sex marriage is protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment. Consequently same-sex marriages bans were struck down as unconstitutional.
