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13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. This is the first of three Reconstruction Amendments that were adopted after the Civil War. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment allows all persons, born in the United States, including former slaves, to be citizens and gave them equal protection under the law. It is the second of three Reconstrction Amendments. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment prohibits denial of voting rights to poeple because of race or color or the fact that they had been slaves. It is the third of three Reconstruction Amendments. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
A court case that declared that colored people are seperate but equal. This ruling remained as law until the 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education reputed it. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment makes it illegal to deny the right to vote based on sex. -
Executive Order of 1948
An order issued by President Truman to abolish racial segregation in the armed forces. -
Brown V. Board of Education
This court case declared that the segregation of public schools between whited and blacks was unconstituional due to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The decision was unanimous in a 9-0 vote by the supreme court and paved the way for integration throughout the US. -
Rosa Parks fihgts for her seat
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man when riding home on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Her actions led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in which black citizens refused to use public transportation and threatened the ecomony. It lasted 381 days until the Supreme Court ruled the segregation law unconstitutional and the buses were integrated. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Was a result of Rosa Parks' arrest and lasted from Dec. 1, 1955 to Dec. 20, 1956 when the Supreme Court declared segregating buses was illegal. It gained support from many powerful leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
This was a bill to protect the voting rights of African Americans. It was fought vigorously by senator Strom Thurmond, but in the end it passed the House wiht a 270-90 vote and the Senate with a 60-15 vote. President Eisenhower signed it on September 9, 1957, making it a law. -
24th Amendment
This amendment made the poll tax that often prevented African Americans to vote unconstitutional. It makes it illegal for Congress or states to deny people the right to vote because of poll tax or any other tax. -
Civil Rigths Act of 1964
This act made major forms of segregation and discrimination against women and African Americans illegal. This act made segregation in public places illegal including schools, the workplace, and other facilities. -
Voting Rights Act of 1964
This act made voting practices that discriminated based on race illegal. These voting practices had been responsible for the disfranchisement of African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
This Act is sometimes referred to as the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 because it provided for equal housing opportunities to citizens regardless of race or national origin.
