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Dred Scott along with his family were slaves working for an Army Major named John Emerson. When Emerson had died in 1843, Scott wished to purchase the freedom of him and his family, which Emerson's wife, Eliza Sandford, denied them. After traveling up to the Supreme Court, the decision of the case stayed the same, in which Scott and his family were not given rights or protections that were guaranteed in the Constitution because they were of African descent, and were not guaranteed these rights.
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January 1st of 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which had declared that all slaves were free in areas controlled by the Confederacy, except for the two states of Kentucky and Tennessee. When the 13th Amendment was signed, slavery was finished and is one of the three Reconstruction Amendments, created after the American Civil War.
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The second Reconstruction Amendment, the 14th Amendment guaranteed that all people born in the United States are granted citizenship and equal protection of the law. The 14th Amendment would end up being the basis of many Supreme Court cases.
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As the last of the Reconstruction Amendments, the 15th Amendment helped to guarantee the right to vote for African Americans. However, discriminatory practices tried to discourage and deny African Americans from voting, regardless of the 15th Amendment. One of these practices included a poll tax, where voters were required to pay a tax in order to register to vote.
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In the 1890s, Louisiana's Separate Car Act provided railroad cars for whites and blacks which were "separate but equal." Homer Plessy was arrested after refusing to sit in the car separate for blacks, as his case was taken all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court voted against Plessy, stating that although they were separate, they were still equal.
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After nearly an entire century of advocating for the vote of a woman, the time has come. The 19th Amendment is what initially gives women the right to vote. The amendment says that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
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White primaries were primaries where only white voters were able to cast a ballot. White primaries were one of the ways used to try and deprive African Americans of their vote. They first started in 1896 with South Carolina and grew more support from primarily southern states for many years. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled that white primaries were unconstitutional in the case of Smith v. Allwright.
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In 1951, over 20 parents had tried to enroll their kids in Topeka schools, however were denied and told to enroll in the black schools. After many other black families experienced similar situations, they took this to the court, arguing that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The decision was a 9-0 unanimous vote in favor of Brown.
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The signing of the 24th Amendment marks the end of the poll tax. The amendment states that the right to vote in any election, primary or not, would not be denied for a failure to pay a poll tax, a tax that would be paid when voting in elections. Large amounts of people protested in the street against it until it was officially abolished.
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Poll taxes were a source of government spending for a long time. Starting in 1877, poll taxes were required to register to vote in many states. You would not have been able to vote or register for a driver's license, along with other privileges of citizenship if your poll tax wasn't paid for. After the 15th Amendment passed, many used poll taxes as a way to restrict voting access to African Americans. When the 24th Amendment was passed in 1964, poll taxes were then rid for good.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a step closer to receiving equal rights for all. The act banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, etc., and also ended segregation in public places such as schools or train stations. President Lyndon B. Johnson can be seen in the picture, shaking the hand of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
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Just a year after Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he also signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act helped to guarantee the votes of African Americans and specifically aimed to overcome barriers that they would face when trying to vote. Just as poll taxes were near elimination, Johnson saw an even greater opportunity to help minorities receive the same rights that white men would receive.
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In this case, both the separated husband and wife, Cecil and Sally Reed, had both filled a petition for who would be the administrator of their deceased son's estate. After Cecil was appointed because men were favored over women, Sally argued that it violated the 14th Amendment, and took this case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause prohibited different genders from receiving different treatment.
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After returning from the Marines, Allan Bakke wanted to go to medical school. He applied twice to the University of California-Davis Medical School twice and was denied both times. Bakke had substantially higher test scores than many and took this case to the Supreme Court. After reaching the Supreme Court, they decided in a tough 5-4 decision that although race may be used as a means to evaluate applicants on certain circumstances, that the University may not establish a racial quota system.
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The purpose of the Equal Rights Amendment is to provide equal legal rights no matter your sex. When it was proposed to Congress, the House and Senate both approved it, however, when the deadline came, the amendment was short of ratification by 3 states. States continued to adopt or drop it, and rather than it being involved in the U.S. as a whole, states started adopting it one by one, with Nevada being the first in 2017. States continue to adopt the ERA to this day.
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After Michael Hardwick received a citation for public drinking, the police officer who gave him the citation, Keith Torick, showed up at his house with an expired warrant and found Hardwick engaging in oral sex with a companion. Hardwick then sued the attorney general of Georgia, Michael Bowers, for a declaratory judgment, and then Hardwick was represented by ACLU judges. The Supreme Court did not overturn the case but was eventually overturned in Lawrence v. Texas.
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On July 26th, 1990, George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which received bipartisan support from across the nation. The purpose of the act was to provide protection to individuals with disabilities and giving them an equal opportunity like everyone else, including specific areas like employment, housing, transportation, and many more.
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First created from an executive order in 1961, affirmative action including a set of policies and practices, making sure that people were both being employed and treated fairly, regardless of race, and origin. In 1968, gender was also added to the list. The purpose of affirmative action is to provide opportunities for people who might have been deprived of them.
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Lawrence and Garner were both involved in sexual activity, and then a police officer showed up in the home Lawrence while looking for a weapons disturbance. The officer later arrested both of them and was then charged in Texas. Lawrence then appealed, until the case reached the Supreme Court. From there, a 6-3 majority vote was in favor of Lawrence, stating that "The right of consenting adults to engage in sexual conduct in the privacy of their homes is protected by the Due Process Clause..."
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When the spouse of Obergefell passed away, he was not able to be listed as a surviving spouse because, in the state that they lived in, Ohio had banned same-sex marriage. He and many others experiencing the same problem took this to court, till it reached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 majority that state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional and violated the due process of equal protection clause.
