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The Civil Rights Movement
This timeline displays the events of the old and modern civil rights movements that have taken in the United States of America. -
Ratfication of the 13th amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States, unless due punishment was needed as a consequence for a crime, in which the party was originally convicted. -
Ratification of the 14th amendment
The 14th amendment granted all people born in America citizenship. This amendment also guaranteed citizenship to former slaves. -
Ratification of the 15th amendment
The fifteenth amendment granted the right for blacks to vote in the United States. However, it took almost a century for the right to be recognized. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of the blacks in the South registered to vote. -
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws started some time in the 1880's and would last until the 1960's. The Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites in any public place and even certain things such as drinking fountains and beer and wine had to be different. The Jim Crow laws were named after a black faced character in minstrel shows. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The court case established the "seperate but equal" doctrine. Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. This violated Lousiana state law. It wasn't until the decision of the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case until the ruling was overturned. The courts had state that his charge didn't conflict with the 13th and 14th amendments. -
Ratification of the 19th amendment
The 19th amendment granted woman the right to vote. The Seneca Falls Convention in New York would help gather a bunch of womans rights activists such as Elizabeth Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony. After seventy years of lobbying for change the amendment was finally passed giving them the right to vote. -
Korematsu v. United States
During World War II all Japanese born Americans and foreign americans were put in internment camps and were suspected of being spies. Fred Korematsu refused to leave his California home. The military argued, although Korematsu was American born his ancestory was still a cause to commit treason. The court ruled in the favor of the United States. However, in 2003 Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were enforced equally onto every person who voted and was more important after the Reconstruction period. This tax was mainly imposed to prohibit the blacks from voting. Because of the poverty level, most blacks couldn't afford the poll tax. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy Tests were another form of way to deny voting rights to African Americans. Even poor whites had to take the literacy test and those who didn't have a high literacy rate didn't pass and couldn't vote. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Heman Sweatt was not allowed to go to the Texas University of Law because he was black and the school didn't allow blacks at the time. Educators were forced to let him attend the school after the decision was made because the other college was isolated from the main law school. -
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
Ruled for segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. As a result of this court case, de jure segregation was ruled as a violation to the Equal Protection Clause and Fourteenth Amendment. The Warren's Court was a unanimous (9-0) decison and stated that seperate facilities were unequal. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Blacks refused to ride the public buses in Montgomery, Alabama. This occured four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man. Eventually, the boycott arose the most famous leaders in all of history, Martin Luther King Jr.. -
Ratification of the 24th amendment
The 24th amendment abolished poll taxes. Back in the 1800's, blacks could vote after the passing of the 15th amendment. However, most did not have enough money to pay the poll tax. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation in public places such as schools and made employment discrimination illegal. The most famous occurence regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the integration of Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped strengthen the 15th amendment. The act banned the use of literacy tests. As a whole, this would affect the black history franchise and is considered to be one of the most important benchmarks for the civil rights movement's success. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis Regarding MLK's Death
Robert Kennedy made a speech talking to the black community about the death of Martin Luther King. Most of the people at the crowd weren't very excited to see Kennedy and had no idea about the death of Martin Luther King. -
Reed v. Reed
An Idaho Equal Protection Clause that ruled that discrimination against sex was illegal even though there was a law in Idaho that prefered the male when administering estates. On July 1st 1972, Idaho uplifted its male preference for administrating estates. -
Regents of Califorrnia v. Bakke
The Supreme Court ruled that the college's quotas were discriminatory towards blacks. The court ruled the decision in the favor of the students saying how their seating and policies for entering their medical school violated the Equal Protection Clause and 14th amendment. -
Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights amendment states that equality for woman and their rights shall not be abridged by the states. 35 states proposed to legalize this amendment, but needed 38 to officially pass the amendment. However, in 2007 and 2008 the process was imposed to officially ratify the amendment with no confirmed deadline. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A man was arrested for having homosexual intercourse in his Gerogia. Hardwick pleaded to the Supreme Court that his constitutional rights were being violated. However, the court ruled in favor of the state saying that having sexual condomy was not a part of his legal rights. Furthermore, the case was overturned in 2003. This is a very significant gay rights case. -
Ratification of the ADA
The Americans with Disabilites Act (ADA) was passed and makes it illegal to discriminate against people who are disabled. Transportation and pubilc places must have the correct equipment or structures to support the lifestyle of a handicapped person. -
Affirmative action in the United States
Affirmative action is means employees who are woman, disabled, or a racial minority are protected under the law. A court case that helped establish this was Gratz v. Bollinger. The college had given a slight increase in scores to racial minority and was against 14th amendment. -
Lawrence v. Texas
While investigating a possible weapons disturbence at a private home, they discovered to men having sexual intercourse. Under a Texas statue it was illegal. The court ruled in favor of Lawrence saying under the Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment and violated their civil liberties. -
Fisher v. Texas
Abigail Fisher was denied entrance into the University of Texas because she wasn't in the tenth percentile in her graduating high school class. However, she sustained a 3.59 grade point average and was ranked in the 12 percent of her class. The court decided that the college had not faulted in denying her because she was white. -
Indiana's Gay Rights Court Battle
The courts ruled that gay marriage bans in Indiana and several other states are unconstitutional. People in other states are trying to make it possible for their states to legalize gay marriage as well.
