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Dred Scott v. Sanford
The issue of slavery dominated American politics in the 1850's. Congress had long battled the extension of slavery to the new states and territories. In this case, the Supreme Court decided that slaves could not be citizens, and former slaves could not be protected by the constitution. -
13th Amendment Ratification
On this day, the 13th Amendment was passed by the house, formally ending slavery. -
14th Amendment Ratification
On this dsy, the 14th Amendment was ratified, thus granting citizwenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." This also applied to former slaves that had been recently freed. -
15th Amendment Ratification
On this day, the 15th Amendment was ratified. the 15th Amendment prohibited both the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Poll Taxes
First emerged in 1889 as a part of the Jim Crowe laws, poll taxes were aimed at preventing blacks, and some whites from voting. Poll taxes were successful at keeping blacks away from voting in that most of them were too poor to be able to pay the poll tax, which was a prerequisite to voter registration in many southern states. -
White Primaries
Established by state legislatures in many Southern states after 1890, White primaries were primary elections held in Southern states in which only white voters were permitted to participate. White primaries were one of many methods used to try and keep blacks and other minorities from voting in elections. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court case that established the legal grounds for "sperate but equal" facilities for whites and blacks. The case assessed the constitutionality of racial segregation laws. -
Nineteenth Amendment
On this day, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, thus prohibiting any U.S. citizen to be denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. -
Brown v. Board of Eduaction
A landmark Supreme Court case, the Court had decided that state laws establishing seperate public schools between whites and blacks was unconstitutional. This is considered to be one of the most impactful Supreme Court cases in U.S. History because it allowed black students to attend the same schools as whites. -
Affirmative Action
On this date, affirmative action was first used in the United States in Executive Order 10925 and was signed by President John F. Kennedy. Affirmative action referred to the various activities aimed at bringing increased employment, promotion, or admission for members of groups that have been discriminated against. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment was ratifified in 1964 into the constitution, thus prohibiting the requirement of a poll tax for voters in federal elections. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
On this day, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States, the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by president Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibited racial discrimination in voting. -
Reed v. Reed
In the Supreme Court case of Reed v. Reed, it was ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. In other words, someone could not be discriminated against, based on what their sex was. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment was influential in the decision. -
Equal Rights Amendment
First introduced into congress in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was designed to guarantee equal rights for women. In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislature, where it would later be ratified. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
A landmark Supreme Court case that upheld affirmative action. The decision allowed race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. It had been discovered that the universitie's special admission program had previously discriminated against Allan P. Bakke, not granting him admission because he was "too old." -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults when applied to homosexuals. -
Americans With Disabilities Act
On this day, the Americans With Disabilities Act was ratified. Considered to be a wide-ranging civil rights law, the ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability. -
Lawrence v. Texas
On this day, the Supreme Court invalidated anti-sodomy laws, making same-sex sexual activity legal in all states and territories. This decision had overturned the 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick.
