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Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Supreme Court decision stating that a runaway slave was still considered a slave in a state where slavery was outlawed -
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Poll Taxes and White Primaries
Poll taxes were techniques used by Southern states to discourage African Americans from voting. Used heavily during the Jim Crow era, the poll taxes were used until they were ruled unlawful in Supreme Court cases and banned through the 24th amendment.
White primaries were very similar to poll taxes in that they both discouraged African Americans from voting. The White primaries established a voting primary where candidates were selected however African Americans could not vote in any of them. -
13th Amendment
One of the three Civil War amendments, outlawed slavery in all states and territories of the United States -
14th Amendment
One of the three Civil War amendments, gave African Americans full citizenship and rights under the equal protection clause. -
15th Amendment
One of the three Civil War amendments, stated that the right to vote could not be denied to anyone on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
A Supreme Court case which established the principle of "separate but equal." African Americans were made to sit in separate train cars from the Whties. This idea was used to justify segregation for many decades after the Civil War until the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education ruled the principle unconstitutional. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment guaranteed women the right to vote by saying that the right to vote could not be denied to anyone based on their gender. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
A Supreme Court case which established that the principle of "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. It was previously ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that the principle was allowed to justify slavery but in this case, segregation in public schools was illegal. -
Affirmative Action
Passed as an executive order by President Kennedy, it said that employers must not descriminate against workers of a certain race, gender, or religion and cannot use those aspects as a factor to deny someone a job. -
24th Amendment
Prohibited the Federal Government and the states from using a poll tax which discourages citizens from voting in national elections. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
An act passed by Congress that ended segregation in businesses engaging in interstate commerce. Congress used the right to regulate insterstate commerce to pass this act. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Passed during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, it was an act that allowed for the mass enfranchisement of racial minorities throughout the nation by guaranteeing their right to vote. -
Reed vs. Reed
A Supreme Court case which ruled under the Equal Protection clause that an administrator of an estate could not be named if he/she would descriminate against a person based on sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was proposed to Congress in 1972 and was passed by both the House and the Senate. The amendment would establish the fact that no rights could be abridged based on sex, race, or religious views. However, the amendment did not pass with the required amount of state legislatures approval. -
Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke
A Supreme Court case that ruled against Affirmative Action, stating that the University of California was unfairly discriminating against Bakke because he was caucasian when he tried to enroll in the law school but was denied due to the university trying to fill a quota of African American students. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick and Lawrence vs. Texas
A Supreme Court case which ruled that Georgia's Anti-Sodomy law was constitutional. The decision was overturned in 2003 in Lawrence vs. Texas under new circumstances that homosexuals were protected to have a private life. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
Act signed into law that said reasonable accomodations must be made in public institutions that allow handicap or disabled access for all Americans with disabilities officially recongnized by the government. -
Texas vs. Fisher
A Supreme Court case which argued on the topic of Affirmative Action. The case was brought about on charges that the University of Texas had not been consisten in considering race as a factor for admission. The Supreme Court eventually ruled with the University, citing that it was consistent with admissinos consideration.
