-
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment states that it abolishes slavery, and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The ratification time span was 10 months and 6 days. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment defines citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and deal with post-Civil War issues. The ratification process lasted 2 years and 26 days. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The ratification process lasted 11 months and 8 days. -
Jim Crow
The phrase "Jim Crow" originates at "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-dance caricature of the black race performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface in 1832. As a result of Rice's fame, "Jim Crow" by 1838 had become the meaning "Negro". -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1 with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan. -
Poll Taxes
Poll Taxes enacted in Southern states between 1889 and 1910 had the effect of disenfranchising many blacks as well as poor whites, because payment of the tax was a prerequisite for voting. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. -
Korematsu v. United States
This was a Supreme Court Case that concerned the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. It ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, when African Americans were still under the segregated bus laws, the Montgomery Bus Boycott bega when Rosa Parks argued about giving up her bus seat for a white man after a hard day of work. The demands of the boycott were not to change to laws but simply to comply with a courtesty approach towards the African Americans. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy tests refer to the state government practices of administering tests to prospective voters purportedly to test their literacy in order to vote. In practice, these tests were intended to deny suffrage African-Americans. -
Affirmative Action
The policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who are perceived to suffer from discrimination within a culture -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax. The ratification process lasted 1 year, 4 months, and 27 days. -
Civil Rights Act
A landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the U.S. that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act
Piece of federal legislation in the U.S. that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis upon death of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. Robert was a New York senator but wanted to deliver the news to the people of Indianapolis. -
Reed v Reed
Richard Reed died and his adoptive parents argued over who should have his estate. After they both filed petitions, the court held a joint hearing on the two petitions.The Idaho statutes automatically gave mandatory preference to males over females when there were two competing relatives to administer a deceased person's estate. This was important because Supreme Court's decision marked the first time that women were granted equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and sent to the states for ratification by both houses of their state legislatures. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution when approved by three-fourths (38) of the 50 states. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
Allan Bakke who was a 35 year old white man applied to the University of California twice and was rejected both times. Bakke's qualifications exceeded those of any of the minority students admitted in the two years his applications were rejected. Bakke contended in the California courts that he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race. The Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial quotas in its admissions process was unconstitutional. -
Bowers v Hardwick
The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not protect the right of gay adults to engage in private, consensual sodomy. Atlanta police arrived at the residence of Michael Hardwick to arrest him for failing to appear in court on charges of public drinking. They then saw him involved him involved in oral sex and him and his partner were arrested. The Supreme Court ruled that the right for gays to engage in sodomy was not protected by the Constitution -
Americans with Disabilities Act
ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities. The ADA also establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services. -
Lawrence v Texas
John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were arrested in Lawrence’s Houston home and jailed overnight after officers responding to a false report found the men having sex. They were convicted of violating Texas’s Homosexual Conduct law, which made it a crime for two people of the same sex to have oral or anal sex. They fought to have the Supreme Court hear their case and they won with the Supreme court saying the Homosexual Conduct law was unconstitutional -
Fishers v Texas
Texas made a law saying the University of Texas had to admit all high school seniors who ranked in the top ten percent of their classes. After finding differences between the racial makeup of the university's undergraduate population and the state's population, the University of Texas decided to change its race admissions policy. Abigail Fisher, a Caucasian female, applied for undergraduate in 2008 and was denied. She was not in the top 10% and filed suit against the university. -
Indiana's gay right court battle
The Supreme Court decided to let stand rulings that allow same sex marriage in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin. A majority of Americans now live in states where gay couples can wed.
