Civil Rights

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    Literacy Tests

    Literacy tests were exams that must be passed before a person could vote. These test were very difficult for African Americans and uneducated people because they could not read. The test were often altered for different races.
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    Poll Taxes

    Poll taxes where prerequisites that states collected when voting. These taxes were used to keep minorities from voting. The poll tax would be set too high for minorities and poor people to afford. The 24th Amendment abolished the use of poll taxes, in federal elections in 1964.
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    Jim Crow

    Laws that were created to intetnionally segregate the Black from the White population. Mainly used by Southern and Border States.
  • 13th Ammendment

    13th Ammendment
    This ammendment officially ended slavery in the United States. The bill was controversial but finally passed on december 6, ratified on the 18th. The south still didnt enforce the ammendment.
  • 14th Ammendment

    14th Ammendment
    Adresses the equal rights of all citizens, regardless of color or race. This law was created to protect the African American population from polce officers and other citizens. Also abolished any state laws that inhibited African American privelages and rights.
  • 15th Ammendment

    15th Ammendment
    This amendment forbids the state and government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on their color or race. This gave the African American men the right to vote in the south.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Plessy v. Ferguson
    This supreme court case adressed the seperate facilities for Black and White citizens. The court ruled that seperate but equal facilities were constitutional.
  • 19th Ammendment

    19th Ammendment
    The 19th amendment gave women the right to vote. The amendment was a huge milestone for women's suffrage. Many generations of women protested for the right to vote and they finally achieved it with the 19th amendment.
  • Korematsu v. US

    Korematsu v. US
    This dealt with the constitutionality of the Executive order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II.
  • Sweatt v. Painter

    Sweatt v. Painter
    This case was the case that successfully challenged the “Separate but equal” case. A black man named Herman Marion Sweatt was refused to the School of Law of the University of Texas because they did not admit negro students at the time in Texas. The ruling was too create a law school for black students and only black students. The only problem was that the facility and quality of education was nothing like that of the University of Texas Law.
  • Brown v. BOE

    Brown v. BOE
    This case basically tested the constitutionality of segregation in schools. People argued that the quality of education in a black school was not where near the quality that one would find in white schools at the time. People then began to integrate as a result of this case; this was a major victory for the blacks in the civil rights movement.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    Four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her front seat to a white man. African Americans of Montgomery, Alabama boycotted the bus systems to protest segregated seating. After 381 days of the boycott, the U.S Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus systems. One of the leaders of the boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., emerged as a national leader for American civil rights.
  • Affirmative Action

    Affirmative Action
    In 1961, President Kennedy became the first to utilize the term “affirmative action” in Executive order. This refers to equal opportunity employment. This deals with the prevention of discrimination in the work place based on color, religion, sex, or national origin.
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    Affirmative Action

    In 1961, President Kennedy became the first to utilize the term “affirmative action” in Executive order. This refers to equal opportunity employment. This deals with the prevention of discrimination in the work place based on color, religion, sex, or national origin.
  • 24th Ammendment

    24th Ammendment
    The 24th amendment denied the states from using poll taxes for all federal elections. This amendment allowed minorities to vote without paying a high tax that most could not afford. Although the amendment abolishes poll taxes from federal elections, it does not abolish poll taxes from state elections
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece in the civil rights movement. The act outlawed discrimination based on people's race, color, sex, or religion. This act ended the unequal voter requirements and racial segregated school. The act was not followed by southern states in the beginning but congress started to send military to protect and enforce these laws in the south.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Voting Rights Act of 1965
    The U.S passed a law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. The act was designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments. This gave all races the right to vote and was protected by the U.S government.
  • Bobby Kennedy

    Bobby Kennedy
    Robert Kennedy was campaigning for the upcoming election in Indiana. After giving two speeches, he was then informed of the murder of MLK. Instead of canceling his next speech, in Indianapolis, he decided to go through with it. He told the crowd about the killing and Kennedy's aides were worried that the speech may start violence and riots. Kennedy went on to talk about how to protest this tragic event with non-violence. His speech is considered one of the greatest speeches for non-violence.
  • Reed v. Reed

    Reed v. Reed
    This case was an equal protection case that ruled that the administrators of the estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. A divorced couple were in conflict over which of them to designate as administrator of the estate of their deceased son.
  • Equal Rights Ammendment

    Equal Rights Ammendment
    The equal rights amendment was an amendment that gave equal rights to all persons regardless of their sex. The amendment was first written in 1923 and was in front of congress until 1972. Congress could not achieve the 38 state ratification. The amendment is still under protest today.
  • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

    Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
    The legality of voluntary affirmative action programs initiated by universities was unresolved. Proponents deemed such programs necessary to make up for past discrimination, while opponents believed they were illegal and a violation of the equal protection clause and the fourth amendment.
  • Bowers v. Hardwick

    Bowers v. Hardwick
    In a 5-4 ruling, the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults when applied to homosexuals was ruled to be valid. Seventeen years later, this would be overruled by the Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, saying that anti-sodomy laws were unconstitutional.
  • Americans with Disabilities act

    Americans with Disabilities act
    Also known as ADA, this act prohibits the discrimination of people with disabilities. This also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees. This act also enforces accessibility requirements on public accommodations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations has a list of conditions that are considered disabilities.
  • Lawrence v. Texas

    Lawrence v. Texas
    In a 6-3 ruling, the supreme court shot down the sodomy law in Texas , and invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory. It came to conclusion that sodomy laws violated the 14th ammendment.
  • Fisher v. Texas

    Fisher v. Texas
    This case dealt with the concerns with the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Texas at Austin. Not a definite conclusion was brought by this case. The case was remanded for further consideration.
  • Indiana’s Gay Rights Court Battle

    Indiana’s Gay Rights Court Battle
    A terminally ill woman wanted to get married and have Indiana recognize their same-sex marriage, She said that she wanted their children to know that their parents were treated like other married couples I their home state.