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13th Amendment
no slavery or involuntary servitude shall exist in The United States without consent or as punishment for a crime. This was the amendment which essentailly abolished slavery. -
14th Amendment
granted citizenship to all person born or naturalized in The United States. This game slaves freed by the 13th amendment citizenchip. Forbid any state from denying any person their natural rights withuot due process of law. -
15th Amendment
granted afican american MEN the right to vote. notice that women would not be allowed to vote until the 1920's. no person shall be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
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Poll Taxes
tax on every adult in the community. was of equal value, people who did not have wealth could not afford to vote, this was very important during the civil rights era, as many newly freed slaves didnt have enough money to vote. was abolishedby the 24th amendment. -
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Literacy Tests
test required by voters to prove they are literate and educated enough to vote. african americans did not recieve education as slaves, and could not pass literacy test, therefore, they could not vote. -
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Jim Crow Laws
these were the years in which the jim crow laws had the stongest effect. they took a "separate but equal" stance toward african americans. this established racial segregation which was most prevalent in the southern states. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Decalred that "separate but equal" would be the law of the land. this was really only the case in the south and was the basis on which segregation was formed. most all public areas, including schools, were to have separate black and white areas. -
19th Amendment
Gave women the rights to vote. they were descriminated agaist along with african americans, and even got the rights to vote after african american men. many abolishionist were women, and many people who wanted women to vote were african americans. these two groups have been going hand-in-hand for a while. -
Equal Rights Amendment
Was an amendment introduced to give equal rights to women. it was proposed for the first time in 1923. the ratification deadline was set for the last time at 1982, but did not recieve the required number of votes. this amendment was never passed. -
Korematsu vs. United States
held that the defense of the nation against epionage outweighed the individual rights of japanese-americans during WWII. this decision was questionable as only one of the supreme court justices wasn't appointed by roosevelt. this decision was also based on evidence of citizens who were spies, and failed to take into account those who weren't. -
Sweatt vs. Painter
applied for admission to law school, but law stated that he could not get in because state law mandated that blacks could not go to this school. when he went to court they ruled that they must establish separate,but equal, facilities and that he should be admitted to the law school. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
declared that "separate but equal" was inherently unconstitutional. that by defination making somebody separate made them unequal. this got rid of segration is public places, specifically schools. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
african americans refused to ride the public city buses in protest of racial segregation in public areas, even transportation. it started with Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat in the "white only" section of the bus. -
Affirmataive Action
was an initiative set in order in integrate the previously excluded members of society. originally put into place by the kennedy administration and applied mainly to race, but was amended in 1967 to also include sex. -
24th Amendment
got rid of poll taxes and literacy tests. this were put in place to explicitly stop african americans from voting as many of them were not educated, and made too little money to pay a poll tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
ended segregation in public places. banned emplyment descrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act 1965
prohibits racial descrimination in voting. enforced viting rights which were established by the 14th and 15th amendment. the laws were in place, but not enforced until the voting rights act went into effect. -
MLK Death Speech
Showed that the governemnt was interested in Civil Rights, and Kennedy pledged to carry on King's fight for equality of all people. They needed to seal the wounds that would be left by this killing. -
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Indiana Gay Rights Battle
in 1977 Indiane decriminalized same-sex marriage, but this was due to a federal decision. recently, while most states have been trying to push for same-sex marriage, indiana has been pushing the opposite direction. in the last decade there has been for attempts to define marriage as union of a man and woman in indiana, which would make gay marriage illegal. all of these were shot down, and in 2014 a federal decision made all states recognize same-sex marriage. -
Bakke Case
Upheld affirmative action, and decided that race was a factor on which college admission could base their decision. however, this was not a step back toward segreagation. this was to be sure that schools had minimum numbers of students from different races to help enforce integration. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick
Ruled that oral and anal sex between homosexual individuals, even if they consented, was illegal. was founded on basis that it was an ancient untold law and was a crime that should be considered worse than rape, as it was against nature. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
people with disabilities cannot be descriminated against for jobs, service, etc. this also required that public areas becomes accesible to people with handicaps. -
Lawrence vs. Texas
overturned the previous ruling that same-sex sex was illegal. this did not only make it legal in texas, but 13 other states in which it was declared to be illegal. this also said that citizens now had a constitution rights to the protection of their sexual privacy. -
Fisher vs. University of Texas
questioned if universities were treating race as having an "appropriate but limited" role in the admissions process. the court did not look at the question itself, but was quick to look back to old cases and simply declare that affirmative action was to be upheld. -
Reed vs. Reed
laws declared that males must be prefered to females. when their child died the reeds had a debate over who would get access to their estate. the reeds were separated, and sally challenged the ruling that she wasnt entitled to any ofthe estate. decision stated that these laws were unconstitutional.