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Scott V Stanford
In 1846, Dred Scout sued the Sanfords because she wouldn’t let him buy his family’s freedom. He won the case and was free. However, Sanford wouldn’t pay him what she owed. When Scout tried to sue again, the original ruling was overturned by the higher court. Scout was sent back to slavery. -
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Reconstruction
Reconstruction was the time period after the civil war in which former slaves fought to become full citizens of the united states. -
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Reconstruction amendments
3th A- Abolished slavery
14th A- Right to Due Process
15th A- Gave African Americans the right to vote
24th A- Abolished poll tax for all federal elections -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson challenged the legality of “Jim Crow laws”. These laws segregated things like drinking fountains, train cars, buses, and restrooms. Homer Plessy refused to move to the black car on a train and was arrested. He argued that these segregations violated his 14th amendment right. The court ruled that these “Jim Crow laws” were legal, as long as blacks and whites were given the same accommodation. -
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Jim Crow Era
Jim crow laws were created to segregate white people from black people. They made it so there were "white only" bathrooms, and a drinking fountain. They said that it was separate but equal, but everything for colored people was lower quality than the things white people got. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment gave women equal rights to vote. -
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Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused of rape by two southern white women trying to cover up for something they did. There was no evidence against them except the word of these two women, but they were convicted in they're first trials because they were black. they had many of there 14th amendment rights violated. In the end, they were all cleared, though by that time most of them were dead. -
George Stinney case
George Stinney was a 14-year-old boy who was electrocuted "legally". He was accused of the murder of two white girls but wasn't given due process. There was no evidence except the word of the sheriff of the town, and he wasn't given an at the adequate lawyer, or a jury of his peers (the jury was all white). -
Brown v. Board
Brown v. Board included 5 cases, all about segregated schools. White schools were always better than colored schools, but colored people weren't allowed to attend white schools. So they took their cases to court. The court ruled in favor of brown, saying that separate but equal wasn't really equal, and colored people were allowed to attend white schools. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was a landmark civil rights act. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed voting discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prevented housing discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. -
California v. Bakke
Allan Bakke applied twice to California medical school but was rejected both times. The school reserves 16 places each year for "qualified minorities", but Bakke's qualifications exceded the minority students that took his place. Bakke argued wasn't admitted because he was white, and took his case to court. The court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of Bakke, but Powell, who cast the deciding vote, agreed that the constitution allowed race as a qualification for higher education. -
Gratz v. Bollinger
Gratz applied to U of M but was not accepted. The university had an admissions review committee that was biased towards "underrepresented minorities". Gratz argued that this violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case eventually made its way to the supreme court, who agreed that this violated the act of 1964 This case, along with California v Bakke, set the presidents that race-based classifications must be "compelling government interest" and must be "narrowly tailored" to that interest. -
Meredith v. Jefferson Co Board (Louisville school integration)
Jefferson school district had an enrolment plan were students were given a choice of schools. However, the school had to have a black population between 15% and 50%. Parents sued, including Meredith. They argued that the plan violated the student's 14th amendment rights. The district court argued that the schools had a compelling interest in keeping racial diversity, a president set in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger. The supreme court overturned this ruling. -
Shelby County v. Holder (elimination of preclearance enforcement)
Shelby county filed suit in district court and sought to have section 5 and 4(b) of the 15th amendment declared unconstitutional. The district court declared the laws constitutional, and the U.S appeals court agreed. The question was do sections 5 and 4(b) of the voter’s rights act exceed congress’s power under the 14th and 15th Amendments? The supreme court ruled that these sections were unconstitutional in a 5-4 vote.