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13th Amendment
The 13th amendment officially abolished slavery. The president who approved the Joint Resolution of Congress and submitted the proposed amendment to state legilatures was Abraham Lincoln. The amount of states needed to ratify the amendment was met. The 13th amendment didn't allow involuntary servitude as well as slavery. Involuntary servitude is a person laboring against that person's will to benefit using coercion. There was an exception to this, however, if it was a punishment for crime. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were a prerequisite to registration to vote in many states for African Americans. These poll taxes were used in attempt to cause a decrease in the population of African American people in the United States. Poll taxes were a part of Jim Crow laws. -
14th Amendment
This amendment granted citizenship rights to everyone who is born in the United States. This goes for anyone, including former slaves. The amendment also stated that states could not deny people of their natural rights without due process of law. There is an equal protection of laws displayed throughout the amendment. -
15th Amendment
This amendment prohibits the government from denying anyone to vote based on their race, religion, or ethnic background. Former slaves were able to vote freely as well. Their past does not matter. Poll taxes were still limiting the ability for African Americans to vote, but their rights were slowly building up. -
Jim Crow
Jim crow laws were segregation laws that were enacted after the reconstructory period in the south. Many of these laws were put in place at restaurants, trains, pools, schools, hospitals, and other public places. These were made to separate the races of black and white. The african americans were not the only people that were negatively affected. Anyone who supported the movement suffered through these times -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This case involved a African American getting arrested for sitting in a "white car' on a railroad in Louisiana. This violated the 13th and 14th amendment. THe court ruled that separate faciilities for races were okay as long as theyw ere equal. Although this rule was put into place, there was still many restaurants and public places where people were clearly not equal. -
Literacy Test
Literacy tests are what the government uses to administer tests in order to receive the right to vote.These tests were originally made in order to defranchise African Americans. The actual intentions of the literacy test is to control immigration. These tests used to also try eliminate struggling white families. -
19th Amendment
This amendment prevents any U.S citizen from being denied to vote based on sex or gender. This resulted from the build up of the woman suffrage movement which fought all the way to national levels to achieve the right to vote. Although the woman were denied many times, they finally succeeded to ratifying woman voting rights. -
Korematsu v. United States
This case involved the contitutionality of the internment of anyone with japanese ancestry during World War II. The decision of the supreme court ruled a 6-3 in support that the act was contitutional. They claimed that the United States was in war with Japan and that it was in the best interest of the government to "protect" the people which trumped Korematsu's rights. -
Sweatt v. Painter
This case challenged the "seperate but equal" law put in place. This involved an African American Heman Sweatt who was rejected from the school of law in texas. The Supreme Court ruled that Sweatt was to be admitted to the university because the other "law school for negros" would not be equal to the law school at the university at texas. Sweatt was successful in proving his case. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This case is what officially prohibited establishing separate schools for white and black people. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that having separate educational facilities for races was unconstitutional. The Courts ruled that the case was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. This was one of the main breakthroughs in the civil war movement -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was the political and social protest against the policy of racial segregation in public transportation system. This took place in Montgomery, Alabama. An icon of this event is Rosa Parks, who was an African American woman who was arrested because she refused to give her seat up to a white person. This event led to the decision of the Supreme Court to rule that the segregation of buses and other transportations was unconstitutional. -
24th Amendment
This amendment prohibits requiring poll taxes for voters. This basically meant that no one could be denied if they did not pay a poll tax. The poll tax was made so that African Americans could not vote as well as poor people because they could not afford it. This amendment says that no one can be denied of voting for the reason of poll taxes or any other type of tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act is to enforce the contitutional right to vote. This protects the contitutional rights in public facilities and public education, preventing discrimination in federally assisted programs to espablish equal oppurtunity. This act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or any other type of representation. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act involved the prohibition of racial discrimination in voting. This was designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th amendment nad allowed for a mass enfrachisement of racial minorities throughout the country. The act is considered to be the msot effective piece of civil legislation ever enacted in the country. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianpolis upon death of MLK
Robert Kennedy made a Speech in Indianapolis to honor MLK. He state that Martin Luther King dedicated his life for others and for justice to everyone around him. His speech was based around continuing MLK's legacy and trying to rid segration. He was a great push to the civil rights movement because he was a respected figure who supported Martin Luther King's goal to get abolish racism and segregation. -
Reed v Reed
This case involved a married couple who had gotten a divorce and had a conflict over which of them to designate as the adminisrator of the estate of their deceased son. The Supreme Court considered the case a unanimous decision that held preference in favor of mails, but then the court ruled that the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment prohibited diffrential treatment based on sex. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This case involved affirmative action, alllowing race to be one of the several factors in college admission policy. The Supreme Court ruled that the university's use of racial quotas in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but the act of accepting mroe minority applicants was mroe constitutional. Bakke sued the university saying that the medical school's admission violated the 14th amendement that no applicant may be rejected because of his race in favor of another who is less qualified" -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment involved the equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by any state on account of sex. The amendment also said that the congress has the power to enforce by appropriate legislation. This declated that the constitution applied to all persons regardless of their sex (gender.) This provided women with the same oppurtunities as men under the constitution. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
This case involved the contituionality of a sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults when applied to the same sex. The Supreme Court said that the consitution did not confer a right to engage in homosexual sodomy. The decision was that it was illegal because there was no consitutionally protected right to engage in homosxual sex. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accomodation, and governmental activities. These include both mental and physical conditions, A condition does not need to be sever or permanent to be a disabilitiy. Employers must give equal oppurtunities to people with disabilities. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action policies are those in which an intitution or organization actively angage in providing equal employment oppurtunities. This is required by employer to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment on the basic of color, religion, or sex. Affirmative action has changed overtime from the early 20th century. -
Baehr v. Miike
This is the extra case that involved a lawsuit between three same sex couples that argued that Hawaii's prohibition of same sex marriage violated the state constitution. This case had a huge impact on the civil rights movement because it led tho an amendment to the state constitution supporting gay rights. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This case involves a policeman entering a apartment because of a report of weapon disturbance in a private residence. When the police entered the apartment, the residence owner of the house was having consensual sexual contact with another adult man. The state of Texas believed that it was a violation of the due process law. Lawrence won the case 6-3 with the Supreme Court rulling that same sex sexual activity legal in every U.S state and territory. -
Fisher v. Texas
This case involved the affirmative action admissions policy. A caucasian femal applied for admission at the university of texas and was not admitted. She argued that race was used as consideration of the decision and that tit was a violation of the equal protection cause of the 14th amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in support of fisher saying that the decision ws made unfairly.
