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Dred Scott v. Stanford
Dred Scott was a slave, whose master had taken him to a free state. Since he was in a free state he argued that he should be free and sued his master. The court ruled that not only was Dred Scott not free, but he did not have the right to take a case to court since he was not a citizen, but property. While the ruling had a negative outcome, it progressed the Civil War to beginning, which would be one of the first major steps to equality. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment was one of the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment specifically made slavery illegal within the United States. -
Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment was one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It provided equal protection under the law for all citizens. While it failed to work in the Reconstruction Era, in the Modern Era it has been used to forward Civil Rights like the African American movement, the Women's rights movement, and the current Gay Marriage movement. -
Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It prohibits the federal government from prohibiting the right to vote based on race or color. Sadly many states went around this amendment with the use of literacy tests and poll taxes, removing the right to vote from blacks yet again. This would eventually lead to the Twenty-Fourh Amendemnt and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
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American Poll Tax
Poll Tax Image
After the fifteenth amendment many southern states sought ways to prevent colored people from voting. One way came in the form of poll taxes, high prices that prevented blacks from voting. Poor whites had the grandfather clause that protected their voting rights. This would prevent colored voting for about a century, until the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
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White Primaries
White Only Primary
White primaries were a way for Southern democrats to prevent the right to vote from blacks. This made it so only whites voted in the primaries. This was challenged in Smith v. Allwright, and it was stamped out. This elimanted one factor that barred blacks from the vote, there were other ways to prevent it -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In this landmark court case Homer Plessy was attemting to argue that there should be no segregation on the train becuase the LA law violated his 13th and 14th Amendment rights. The court decided that it was legal to separate the train cars, and everything else for the matter, if the seperate facilities were equal in their commodity, pushing forward the concept of "seperate but equal". -
Nineteenth Amendment
During Reconstruction, colored peoples gained the right to vote, but women were still not allowed. This did not sit well with a lot of women at the time. The need for women's vote led to the a large movement in the United States that starred the ever famous suffrajets. It was eventually passed in 1920 and everyone colored or white or men or women had the vote. -
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Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed to the US Constitution to guarantee equal rights for Women. It was originally proposed by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman in 1923, in 1972 it passed both houses and went to the states for ratification. It almost was made an amendment when 35 of the 38 states needed ratified the amendment, but the deadline of June 30th 1982 was reached with not enough ratifications, and the amendment was never made apart of the Constitution. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This court case from 1954 established that the separation of public schools is unconstitutional. The decision made by the Warren Court, unanimous, overturned the previous decision of Plessy V. Ferguson, which allowed state sponsored segreagtion based on the concept of seperate but equal. -
Affirmative Action
Shortly after taking office in 1961, JFK issued Executive Order 10925 which required government contractors to "consider and recommend additional affirmative steps which should be taken by executive departments and agencies to realize more fully the national policy of nondiscrimination". Firms must follow new policies of nondiscrimination. -
Twenty Fourth Amendment
For about a century, many blacks were prevented the right to vote due to monetary reasons imposed by many states chosing to add a poll tax. Throughout the 20th century, different presidents would try ot pass this amendment. It wasn't until the height of the Civil RIghts movement was it passed. Blacks were one step closer to an equal vote and for full participation in their governments. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Following Brown v BOE, there was a precedent to end the Seperate but Equal Doctorine that had been used for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. By utilizing the commerce clause, the Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This help to end the last of segregation. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
In Reconstruction, several amendments were passed to protect colored peoples. But as Reconstruction ended, these protections ended - specifically the right to vote was chipped away at. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped reinforce the Reconstruction Amendments that protected colored peoples. For example it banned literacy tests. Blacks were having their right to democracy protected once again. -
Reed v. Reed
Reed v Reed was an Equal Rights Protection case that ruled the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. Sally and Cecil Reed were seperated and in conflict over who to designate the administrator of the estate of their deceased son. The Supreme Court's ruling was the first time the 14th amendment had been used to prohibit differential treatment based on sex. -
Regents of the Universty of California v. Bakke
This landmark court cases upheld affirmative action allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. It however ruled that quotas were not allowed. Bakke, after attempting to get into medical school, the supreme court orded Bakke to be admitted. Kept affirmative action from becoming just a quota. -
Equal Rights Ammendment
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Bowers v. Hardwick
A supreme court case ruling that homosexual sex was considered sodomy according to Georgia Law, becuase there was no constitutional protection for couples to engage in homosexual sex. The ruling was reversed in 2003. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
A law that was enacted in 1990 that established a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination based on disabilty. It gives similar protection to the Civil Right Act of 1964, but also requires employers to give accomodations for accessibility. This is very important because it goes above and beyond what was already set out by the Civil Rights act of 1964. -
Lawrence v. Texas
A landmark supreme court case from 2003 that made same sex sexual actvity legal in every US state and territory. It overrturned the previous ruling from 1986 (Bowers V Hardwick). It held that consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by due process under the 14th amendment.
