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Emancipation Proclamation
This was an executive order by president Lincoln during the american civil war. It freed the slaves in the ten states however, The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, and did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves citizens. -
13th Amendment
This amendment officially outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. -
14th Amendment
This Amendment provided a broad description of a U.S. citizen which overruled the Dreddscott v. Sandford. The Amendment prohibited state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness. -
15th Amendment
Prohibits each government from prohibiting the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
On June 7, 1892 Plessy bought a first class ticket on a train and boarded an all white coach. A private decetive apprehended Plessy and arrested him for being on the coach because he was an african american. -
19th Amendment
Prohibits the government from denying any U.S. citizen the right to vote based on sex. -
Smith v. Allwright
was a very important decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Democratic Party's use of all-white primaries in Texas, and other states where the party used the rule. -
Executive Order 9981
This is an executive order by President Harry Truman, and it abolished segregation in the armed forces. "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale." -
Brown v. Board of Education
Declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
Emmett Till Murder
Emmett Till was a african american boy who grew up in Chicago. He was born July 25, 1941, and was murdered in mississippi after repordetly flirting with a white woman. The murderers severely beat him, and before throwing his body in the Tallahatchie river, tied a 70 pound cotton gin to his neck with barbed wire, and shot him in the head. This sparked the Civil Rights movement by African Americans in the United States -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. -
Civil Rights Act 1957
This Act was primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War. Proposed African Americans can have the right to vote. -
Greensboro and Nashville Sit-ins
This was a non-violent sit in at restaraunts to stop racial segregation in diners. The people sitting there were usually african american people and they were "breaking the law" by sitting in a seat designated for white customers. -
Freedom Rides
The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode buses into segregated southern states to fight racism. They challanged the law by sitting on the front of the bus, to try to provoke a change in law. -
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
This was a peaceful march on Washington D.C. for jobs and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous, "I have a dream" speach advocating racial segregation. -
"Sundy School Bombing"
On Sunday, September 15th, a white man was seen exiting a blue chevrolet car, and placing a box under a church in Birmingham Alabama. The bomb killed 4 African American people, and the white man who placed the bomb there was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. This was a big issue on the topic of Racism in the south. -
24th Amendment
Prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public -
Voting Rights Act 1965
This landmark piece of United States legislation, that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had previously signed the landmark Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act into law.
