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The 13th Amendment was ratified.
The 13th amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States. -
The 14th Amendment was adopted.
On July 9, 1868 the United States adopted the 14th amendment. It was defined as one of the Reconstitution Amendments. It gave citizenship rights and equal protection to laws. -
The 15th Amendment
It was passed in the House Feburary 25, 1869: 144 to 44. It was also passed in the Senate on Febuary 26, 1869: 39 to 13. This amendment gave African American males the right to vote. However their right to vote was still unfairly restricted by the used of poll tests, literacy tests, and other ways. -
Jim Crow
This was a social system that consisted of discriminatory laws against African Americans. It was named after a minstrel song in the 19th century that stereotyped African Americans. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were taxes that had to be paid in order to vote. These taxes were used to discourage African Americans and the poor white population from voting. -
Literacy Tests
These test were give by state governments. They allegedly tested the literacy of potential voters. If someone did not pass, then they could not vote. It was used as a strategy to discourage and unfairly keep African Americans from voting. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
On May 18, 1896, the case of Homer A. Plessy v. Ferguson was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.The case was about a man (Plessy) that refused to sit in the Jim Crow section of a train cart in 1892. This broke the Louisianna law at the time. Plessy argued that his constitutional rights of the 13th and 14th right were violeated. However, the Supreme Court stated that they weren't. They said that Louisianna's law was a "legal" difference between black and whites. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave American women the right to vote. -
Korematsu v. United States
In World War II, citizens that were of Japanese decent were prohibited in areas that were considered important to national defense, via Presidential Executive Order. Mr. Korematsu however stayed in California and violated this order. The Supreme Court maintained that the common good to protect against spying overturned this mans' rights. -
Sweatt v. Painter
The case of Sweatt v. Painter was argued on April 4, 1950, and a decision was made on June 5, 1950. In 1946 Herman Sweatt was rejected admission into University of Texas Law School. Only whites were currently admissible to this college. Sweatt then took the case to the courts stating that his Equal Protections Clause was being violated, and the courts agreed. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Oliver Brown, a parent of a student rejected from Topeka's white schools sued the Board of Education. He stated that the seperate schools were not equal to eachother and that the segregation went agains the Equal Protection Clause. The federal district court first ruled that the school were somewhat euqal and then the Supreme Court then ruled that the segregation did violate the Equal Protection Clause. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
It was an event during the civil rights movement and it was a political and social campaign against the policy of racial segregation. The campaign started at December 1, 1955 to December 20, 1966. -
Affirmative Action
President John F. Kennedy distributes Executive Order 10925, which is where the first reference of affirmative action is made. It is a method of setting right discrimination that had continue of civil rights and constitutional laws. -
24th Amendment
This amedment essentially abolished poll taxes.It stated that citizens still had the right to vote even if they did not pay poll taxes, or any other tax. The citizens that did not effectively pay these taxes could not be denied being able to vote by the government. This amendment also gave Congress the right to oversee this amendment by using the appropiate legislation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act banned discrimination based on sex, age, color, race, religion, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act banned poll and literacy tests. It also gave federal government the authority to run voter registration where areas had a reoccuring theme of discrimination. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indiana
This speech was given on April 4,1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was in honor of the death of Martin Luther King. Instead of giving the people a campaign speech, Robert Kennedy decided to have some remarks on MLK death. -
Reed v. Reed
This case all began with the suicide of teenager Richard Lynn Reed. His adopted mother Sally Reed claimed that her now ex-husband, Cecil Reed was partly responsible for his death because the teenager had used his gun to kill himself. They both wanted to be named as the administrator of the estate that there deceased son owned. Idaho Code at the time stated that "males must be preffered to females" and named Cecil the administrator. Reed sued, and the Court agreed that this was unconstiutional. -
Equal Rights Amendment
An amendment added to the consitution. This stated that one can not be refused their civil rights based on their gender. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Allan Bakke filed a lawsuit against University of California Medical School at Davis after being rejected twice. The school had reserved spaces for the 'minorities' and rejected Bakke even though his test scores were superior than theirs. He stated that he was being rejected because of his race.The case went to the Supreme Court. There they decided with the school saying that the decision to save those spaces for minorities was remedial and that it did not violate any constiutuional laws. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Michael Hardwick was caught engaging in oral sex with another man, after police arrived at his house to arrest him for not appearing in court for charges. Hardwick and the other man were then arrested on charges of going against the Georgia Sodomy Statue, which said that oral sex and anal sex was considered sodomy and illegal. Mr. Hardwick then sued claiming this violated his constitutional rights. He won the case. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities act is a civil rights law that forbids the discrimination based off of disability. -
Lawrence v. Texas
In 1998 Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Garner were taken into custody after police replied to a false report and caught the men having sex. They were accused of violent Texas's "Homosexual Conduct" law, which stated it was illegal for people of the same sex to have oral or anal sex. The Supreme Court eventually found that the "Homosexual Conduct" law was unconstiutional. -
Fisher v. Texas
This trial is awaiting settlement. Abigail Fisher sates that she was denied admittance into University of Texas, Austin.She claimed they used race as an admittance standard. She filed a suit, claiming that it voilated Equal Protection Cause and her 14th amendment. University of Texas claimed that this was only to promote diversity of their campus. The district court sided with the University. Abigail appealed the courts' decision.
