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3/5 Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise outlined the process for states to count slaves as part of the population in order to determine representation and taxation for the federal government -
Scott v. Stanford
African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not U.S citizens and therefore did not have standing to sue in federal court. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” -
15th Amendment
Granted African American men the right to vote by declaring 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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Founding of the NAACP
Ensures educational, political, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all people. -
19th amendment
guarantees all American women the right to vote. -
ERA introduced into congress
Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. -
Smith v. Allwright
overturned the Texas state law that authorized the Democratic Party to set its internal rules, including the use of white primaries. -
Truman orders the desegregation of armed forces
President Harry S Truman signed an executive order establishing the presidents committee on equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services committing the government to integrating the segregated military. -
Hernandez v. Texas
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. -
Brown v. Board of Education
State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
voting rights act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, 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 to the U.S. Constitution. -
Cesar Chavez publicizes the plight of migrant workers
Chavez and a group of strikers set out on a 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento to draw attention to plight of farm workers, and during this strike the union won its first contract. -
National Organization of Women
the National Organization for Women is dedicated to its multi-issue and multi-strategy approach to women’s rights, and is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. NOW’s purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life. -
Founding of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States. -
Stonewall Riots
a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. -
Reed v. Reed
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on gender. -
ERA passed by congress
On March 22, 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Senate and sent to the states for ratification. -
Title IX
prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally-funded education, including in athletics programs. -
Congress opens all military service academies to women.
Women are now permitted to serve in combat positions in the military including the Navy SEALs and the Army Rangers -
Craig v. Boren
determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications were subject to intermediate scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause -
Dothard v. Rawlinson
Height and weight restrictions were discriminatory. On the issue of whether women could fill close contact jobs in all male maximum security prisons the Court ruled 6-3 that the BFOQ defense was legitimate in this case. -
Plyler v. Doe
the Supreme Court of the United States struck down both a state statute denying funding for education to undocumented immigrant children in the United States and a municipal school district's attempt to charge an annual $1,000 tuition fee for each student to compensate for lost state funding. -
civil rights and women's equity 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. -
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration -
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 granted under the laws of other states. -
Massachusetts legalizes same sex marriage
it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. -
U.S. v. Windsor
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 (DOMA), is unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. -
Obergfell v. Hodges
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 to the United States Constitution. -
Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission did not employ religious neutrality, violating Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips' rights to free exercise, and reversed the Commission's decision. The Court did not rule on the broader intersection of anti-discrimination laws, free exercise of religion, and freedom of speech, due to the complications of the Commission's lack of religious neutrality.
