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Dredd Scott v. Sandford
Supreme court case decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and the Congress had no authority to ba slavery in the territories -
13th amendment
The contitutional Amendment ratified after the Civil War that forbade slaavery and involuntary sevitude -
14th Amendment
The fourteenth amendment makes African Americans U.S. citizens. This provided them equal protection of the law which had been previously denied to them. The law introduces a way to incorporate the Bill of Rights into the states. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amndment forbade discrimination in voting although that did not stop the states from finding ways around the law. The states still used poll taxes, white primariy and literacy tests to keep minorities from voting. this did not chang untill the passing of the 24th Amendment and The Voting RIghts Act of 1965 -
Plessy v Ferguson
Established justification for segregation by ruling that a LA law requiring "equal but separate accomodations for whtie and colored races" was consitutional; gave Supreme Ct. approval for Jim Crow laws -
poll taxes
Poll taxes were put in place to try to keep African Americans from voting. Poll taxes were taxes on voting which usually fell at a time when share croppers would have no extra cash. Because African Americans were mainly share croppers many could not afford the tax and therefore could not vote. This act was abolished in 1964 by the 24th Amendment -
White Primary
White Primary was one of many ways African Americans were kept from voting even after the passing of the 15th Amendment. White Primary allowed only white men to vote in the primary when voting mattered most. this diminished African American opinions from being acknowledged. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. This rigth didn't come easy. There were protests and petitions for several generations before woman suffrage was granted. -
Brown v Board of Education
Supreme Court ruling that school segregation was inherenetly unconstitutional in violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. -
Affirmative Action
a policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvanteaged group -
The 24th Amendment
This Amendment declared poll taxes in public elections void. THis amendment helped to end the voting discrimination towards minority groups. This was thanks to the Civil rights movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This law made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restraunts. It also forbade many forms of job discrmination.This was brought about by increase in public policies to foster racial equality. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting rights act was a major step towards equality. This law was designed to end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Thanks to this law hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered to vote. The number of African American officials increased dramatically. -
Reed v Reed
Ruled an Idaho law preferring men over women was unconstituional and in violation of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment; landmark case as it was the first time the Supreme Ct. upheld a claim of gender deiscrimination -
Equal Rigths Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment gave many equality protections to women. The Amendment outlawed sex discrimination. It allowed for a huge jump in workplace equality for women. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
Supreme Court ruling that a state University can not admit less qualified individuals soley because of their race; affirmative action gone wrong (reverse discrimination) -
Bowers v Hardick
Court ruled that the constitution did not protect the practice of sodomy between homosexuals, and that the states could ban sodomy -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This Act prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities. This was a big step for equality. This is also however an unfunded mandate that was unwelcomed by many states because of its high cost, -
Lawrence v Texas
overturned Bowers v. Hardwick in voiding anti-sodomy laws on constitutional grounds of privacy