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Declaration of Independence
We define civil rights in the context of the founding of the United States Constitution, and in many respects they are best understood in that light. The first place in which to find that context is the Declaration of Independence, which declares the meaning of civil rights. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The American women's rights movement began with a meeting of reformers in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Out of that first convention came a historic document, the 'Declaration of Sentiments,' which demanded equal social status and legal rights for women, including the right to vote. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -
14th Amendment
The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -
15th Amendment
It granted American men to vote which was a huge success in the civil rights movement. -
Colorado becomes first state to grant women the right to vote
This success was no small achievement. Unlike winning the right to vote through legislative action--as happened in the territories of Wyoming in 1869 and Utah in 1870--Colorado suffragists needed the support of male voters to secure the franchise. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
It advanced the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws, a huge win for civil rights. -
NAACP
Though other civil rights groups emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP retained a prominent role within the movement, co-organizing the 1963 March on Washington, and successfully lobbying for legislation that resulted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Act. -
19th Amendment
The amendment granted women the right to vote. -
Executive Order 10450
It charged the heads of federal agencies and the Office of Personnel Management, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with investigating federal employees to determine whether they posed security risks. It expanded the definitions and conditions used to make such determinations. -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas has been credited with much significance. For some, it signaled the start of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, while for others, it represented the fall of segregation. -
One, Inc v. Olesen
Is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision for LGBT rights in the United States. It was the first U.S. Supreme Court ruling to deal with homosexuality and the first to address free speech rights with respect to homosexuality. -
Illinois becomes first state to repeal its sodomy laws
They repealed their anti-sodomy law’s becoming the first state to do so until 1971. -
24th Amendment
The United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
Despite Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson just a few hours after House approval on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
Voting Rights Act 1965
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Stonewall Inn Riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community[note 1] against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn. -
Title IX
Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. -
APA removes homosexuality as a mental disorder
the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of Trustees “cured” millions of gays and lesbians across America when they voted to pass the resolution. -
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. -
Defense of Marriage Act
A United States federal law that allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. -
Massachusetts legalizes gay marriage
Barred access to the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage, a person who enters into an intimate, exclusive union with another of the same sex is arbitrarily deprived of membership in one of our community's most rewarding and cherished institutions. That exclusion is incompatible with the constitutional principles of respect for individual autonomy and equality under law. -
Don’t ask don’t tell is repealed
Is a landmark United States federal statute enacted in December 2010 that established a process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy thus allowing gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces.
