Civil rights

Civil Rights Timeline

  • 14th Amendment

    The 14th amendment stated that everyone born or naturalized in the United States would be given citizenship and equal rights. This amendment cancels the grandfather act and allows everyone the right to vote.
  • 15th Amendment

    Any citizen of the United States cannot be denied the right to vote. This allows for everyone's opinions to reach the politicians of the time.
  • Congress Passed the First Civil Rights Act

    The 1875 civil rights act bans discrimination on the basis of race in public places. This allows people of minority races to go out in public and not be hate crimed.
  • The First Women's Suffrage Amendment, but was defeated

    The National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed. This opened many professional opportunities for women in political places.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    This supreme court case described that segregation laws did not violate the 14th amendment. In order to make it legal, the spaces had to be equal in quality; making the idea of 'separate but equal'.
  • NAACP is Founded

    The NAACP is an organization that works to remove racial discrimination in legal processes. They are still around which shows that they have worked hard for minorities in the United States.
  • 19th Amendment

    Women are allowed to vote because of this. The government adds a person's gender to protected classes along with race.
  • Shelly v. Kramer

    A St. Louis neighborhood restricted Black and Asian people from living in their area. It was declared unconstitutional.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    This supreme court case stated that segregation, even under the separate but equal clause, was not constitutional. It introduced integrated schools all over the country.
  • Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Sexual orientation and gender identity were added much later, but still have to do with this act.
  • NOW Formed

    The National Organization for Women wanted women to exercise all of their rights they had gained in full harmony with men. They fought for women to have full representation in American society.
  • Green v. County School Board of New Kent County

    Because of Brown v the Board of Education New Kent County implemented a freedom of choice act where students could choose which school they wanted to (traditionally white or black in their county). The supreme court voted that the act did not fully integrate the school just by the freedom of choice act.
  • Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

    The school district of Charlotte, to maintain segregation, used their bussing system to not bus black students to school. The black students that did participate in schools had to find their own transportation and were therefore not equally treated.
  • Proposition 209 - California

    Continuation of Brown v Board of Education in California to not allow any sort of discrimination based on race, sex, and ethnicity in places such as the workplace and education. This allows for everyone in California to have an equal opportunity in their education and work.