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African Americans: 3/5 Compromise
Every slave counts as a third of a person, or every five slaves counts as three people- used to balance out the states' populations. -
Hispanic Americans: Multi-member Electoral Districts in Texas outlawed
Began using single-member districts. -
Women: Seneca Falls Declaration is signed
Described women's grievances and demands, and called on women to fight for their Constitutionally guaranteed right to equality as U.S. citizens. -
African Americans: Scott v. Sandford
Declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States, and could not sue in federal courts. -
African Americans: 13th Amendment
This amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. -
African Americans: 14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States", which includes former slaves. -
African Americans: 15th Amendment
Allowed African American men to vote by saying 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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
African Americans: Plessy v. Ferguson
This case upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality- separate but equal. -
African Americans: Founding of the NAACP
A civil rights organization that focused on advancing justice for African Americans. -
Women: Congress opens all military service to women
33,000 women serve as nurses in World War II and support staff officially in the military and more than 400 nurses die in the line of duty. -
Women: 19th Amendment
Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. -
African Americans: Smith v. Allwright
This case overturned the Texas state law that authorized the Democratic Party to set its internal rules, including the use of white primaries. -
African Americans: Truman orders desegregation of armed forces
An executive order that abolished discrimination based on on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. -
Hispanic Americans: Hernandez v. Texas
The Court decided that Mexican Americans and all other racial and national groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
African Americans: Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court ruled that American state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional- undoing Plessy v. Ferguson and Scott v. Sandford. -
African Americans: Little Rock Nine
9 African American students enrolled at Little Rock Central High School where they initially weren't allowed to enter- led to Cooper v. Aaron. -
Women: ERA introduced to Congress
Aimed to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex -
African Americans: 24th Amendment
It prohibited both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. -
African Americans: Civil Rights Act of 1964
makes discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin illegal. -
African Americans: Voting Rights Act of 1965
Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment. -
Hispanic Americans: Chavez publicizes plight of immigrant workers
Chavez and a group of strikers marched the 340 path from Delano to Sacremento.- UFW -
Women: National Organization of Women
An American feminist organization. -
African Americans: Jones v. Mayer
Said that Congress could regulate the sale of private property to prevent racial discrimination- enforced the 13th Amendment. -
Hispanic Americans: Founding of MALDEF
A national non-profit civil rights organization formed to protect the rights of Latinos. -
Sexual Orientation: Stonewall Riots
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn. -
Women: Reed v. Reed
The Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. -
Women: ERA passed by Congress
Won the 2/3 vote in the House of Representatives first, then the Senate. -
Women: Title IX
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." -
Women: Craig v. Boren
Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex under the Equal Protection Clause. -
Women: Dothard v. Rawlinson
The first United States Supreme Court case which the bona fide occupational qualifications defense was used. -
Hispanic Americans: Plyer v. Doe
the Supreme Court of the United States struck down both a state statute denying funding for education to undocumented immigrant children and a municipal school district's attempt to charge an annual $1,000 tuition fee for each student to compensate for lost state funding. -
Women: Civil Rights and Women's Equality In Employment Act
Amends the Revised Statutes of the United States to declare that all persons within U.S. jurisdiction shall have the same right to take certain actions, including making and enforcing contracts, as is enjoyed by male citizens. -
Sexual Orientation: Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage
It was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. -
Sexual Orientation: Don't Ask Don't Tell
The official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians- don't reveal your orientation of you are not heterosexual. -
Sexual Orientation: US v. Windsor
The Supreme Court held that restricting U.S. federal interpretation of "marriage" and "spouse" to apply only to opposite-sex unions, by Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause. -
Sexual Orientation: Obergfell v. Hodges
The Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Sexual Orientation: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado
A case in the Supreme Court that dealt with whether owners of public accommodations can refuse certain services based on the First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion, and therefore be granted an exemption from laws ensuring non-discrimination in public accommodation. -
Sexual Orientation: Defense of Marriage Act
Defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages- called unconstitutional.
