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13th amendment
This was passed on January 31st, 1865. The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. The amendment also enables congress to pass laws against sex trafficking and other modern forms of slavery. The amendment reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” -
14th amendment
the amendment addresses equal protection of the laws and citizenship rights. It states that no state would be allowed to abridge the “privileges and immunities” of citizens. Also, no person was allowed to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law.” -
15th amendment
The 15th amendment overturned the preexisting statue prohibiting African- American citizens from suffrage such as slavery. This was passed by Congress the year before the amendment reads: “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.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that denied blacks their right to v -
Plessy v. Ferguson
) State laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities to follow the “separate but equal” rule. -
24th amendment
This amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a poll tax for voters in the federal elections. When the 24th Amendment was ratified in 1964, five states still retained a poll tax which were Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas. But it was not until 1966 that the Supreme Court said that poll taxes for any level of elections were unconstitutional. -
19th amendment
The 19th amendment to the U.S Constitution granted American women the right to vote- a right known as woman suffrage. Female citizens did not share same rights as men including the right to vote at that time. Until the 1840’s, the movement for women’s rights launched on a national level. -
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed amendment designed to guarantee equal rights for women. It was introduced in the Congress for the first time in 1923. In 1977, 35 of the 38 state ratifications were received. -
Korematsu v. United States
This case concerned the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during WW11 regardless of citizenship. 6 of the 8 appointees sided with it being constitutional. -
Sweatt v. Painter
) A case that challenged the “Separate but equal” doctrine established by the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896. A black man was refused admission to the School of Law because of his color. -
Brown v. Board of Education
State laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This boycott is when African Americans refused to ride busses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. Rosa Parks, an African- American woman, refused to yield her seat to a white man on that bus. She was then arrested. -
Affirmative Action
This was also known as “Positive Discrimination”. It is the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer from discrimination. It varies from region to region. Actions promoted to achieve non-discrimination -
Poll Taxes.
A poll tax is one imposed equally on all adults at the time of voting and is not affected by property ownership or income. The poll tax was used in the South. The United states ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the US Constitution. It did not end discrimination but it did help a lot for future progress. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy test was not really a reading test because the results were rigged by biased registrars who judged. This use of “Literacy test” referred to an entire complex system devoted to denying African- Americans. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the US that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. During the American Civil Rights Movement, President Lyndon B Johnson signed this into law. The Voting Rights Act had not included a provision prohibiting poll taxes. -
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow Laws were racial segregation state and local laws that happened after the Reconstruction period in Southern United States. Jim Crow Laws were the common name for Segregation laws. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis upon death of MLK
Robert Kennedy gave a speech in Indianapolis that was campaigning to earn the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination when he learned that King had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He also spoke at University of Notre Dame in South Bend and at Ball State. -
Reed v. Reed
A Equal Protection case that states a person cannot be named in a way that discriminate between sexes. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
A landmark decision by the Supreme Court that allowed race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. -
Bowers v. Hardwick:
A decision overturned in 2003, Georgia law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults when applied to homosexuals. Justice White argued that the Constitution did not confer “a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy. Some quoted William Blackstone’s description of homosexual sex as an “infamous crime against nature”, worse than rape and “a crime not fit to be named”. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in various categories. People cannot discriminate in employment, transportation, public accommodations, communication and government activities. It was enacted in 1990 by the U.S Congress. -
Lawrence v. Texas
struck down the sodomy law by making same-sex activity legal in every U.S state and territory. It challenged Georgia statue and didn’t find a constitutional protection of sexual privacy. -
Fisher v. Texas
Another case concerning the Affirmative Action admissions policy of University of Texas at Austin. It was appealed to the Fifth Circuit, the decision was vacated and remanded for further consideration in a 7-1 decision. As of 2014 the case is equally settled. -
Indiana's gay rights court battle
On October 6, 2014 The US Supreme Court denied review of 7th circuit ruling in favor of freedom to marry. The decision means that the ruling 7th circuit ruling stands and same-sex couples will be free to marry in Indiana.