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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott brought a case to the Supreme Court that argued that his residence in a free state made him a free man when he travelled to other states. It was decided that any people with ancestors who were brought to the U.S as slaves were not U.S citizens, and therefore could not bring cases to the federal court. -
13th Amendment
The amendment prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The amendment guaranteed citizenship and life, liberty and property to African-Americans who were emancipated. -
15th Amendment
Voting cannot be taken away from anyone based on their race or past status as a slave. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This case established that segregation was lawful as long as the "separate but equal" clause was upheld. -
White Primaries
The white primaries were primary elections in the south that prohibited anyone that was not white from voting. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave (white) women the right to vote in general elections. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and the court unanimously decided that "separate but equal" is inherently unequal and therefore not constitutional. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action in the United States is the ability to improve opportunities for members of minority groups. This is lawful in many cases, as it is an attempt to create more equality. -
Poll Taxes
This was a standard tax given at polls that was used as a means to both generate revenue and discourage poor communities and people of color from voting. -
24th Amendment
This amendment prohibited a poll tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act got rid of a few barriers to vote that were often used in the south to keep African-Americans from voting, like literacy tests. -
Reed v. Reed
The court decided that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. They said that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibited different treatment because of sex. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
In this case, the court ruled that a university cannot have racial quotas for admissions, but they can have affirmative action to accept more minority applicants. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
The court decided that the right to engage in sodomy with homosexuals is not protected in the Constitution and therefore can be prohibited by individual states. -
Americans With Disabilities Act
This act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to government programs and services. -
Motor Voter Act
This act made it necessary that voter registration is available at the DMV, and other government agencies around communities to expand access to resources to vote. -
Lawrence v. Texas
The court decided that a Texas law that said that homosexual sex was unlawful was overturned. This case showed that consensual sex was protected by the fourteenth amendment's privacy clause. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The court decided that states must recognize same-sex marriage under the fourteenth amendment. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment prohibited discrimination based on sex. It was proposed in 1923 but took many years to get through congress and sent to the states for ratification. It just recently was ratified.
