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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Court Case that decided the US Constitution did not recognize African Americans as citizens, regardless of them being slaves or free men. Rights and privileges did not apply to Dred Scott and he did not have the right to sue. -
13th Amendment
The thirteenth amendment stated that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the united states unless stated as a punishment to a crime. -
14th Amendment
The fourteenth amendment states that under the constitution, no American citizen shall be denied equal protection under all laws. This helped fight discrimination and Jim Crow laws. -
15th Amendment
The fifteenth amendment states that no man shall be denied the right to vote based on the color of their skin or their previous history of servitude. Slaves were now able to vote after becoming free men. -
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White Primaries
White primaries were a method meant to disenfranchise blacks and other minorities by creating a series of barriers to voter registration. This meant that ultimately, whites were the only votes counted during these times. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In Plessy versus Ferguson, the court upheld the decision that blacks and whites can remain separated as long as all of the faculties were made equal. This supported discrimination and brought more divide to the country. -
19th Amendment
The United States are not allowed to deny someone the right to vote based on their sex. This amendment gave rights to everyone in America to vote, women were the last group to obtain this right. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In this case, the supreme court decided that it is unconstitutional to segregate whites and blacks into separate schools, even if the quality of both schools were equal at the time. -
Affirmative Action
The process of giving preference to an individual who belongs to a group that was discriminated against in the past. This was put into law by president Kennedy, and is commonly a factor in job and college applications. -
24th Amendment
The twenty-fourth amendment stated that no citizen of the United States shall be denied their right to vote as a result of not being able to pay a poll tax. Poll taxes allowed the wealthy to rule the polls and silenced minorities who were not as wealthy at the time. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mass outlaw on discrimination based off of race. In no way shall the United States discriminate based off of the color of ones skin. This included faculties, schools, voting, and much more. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were required fees a citizen of the United States had to pay in order to vote or for their vote to be counted. This gave way to elitist control and the silencing of minorities. Many people of the lower-class could not afford this poll tax and were denied the right to vote. -
Voting RIghts Act of 1965
Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, it outlawed discriminatory voting practices many southern states employed against African-Americans, such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and other unfair prerequisites. -
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed amendment to the constitution, it sought to guarantee equal rights to all Americans regardless of sex. It managed to pass through congress, but was only ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 state legislatures before its deadline expired in 1982. -
Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke
An important case in regards to affirmative action, it upheld that affirmative action was legal, but limited in and declared "racial quotas" were unconstitutional. -
Reed vs. Reed
The supreme court ruled that administrators of estates cannot be named on the basis of sex, because of the 14th amendment. -
Bowers v.Hardwick
In a five-four ruling, the supreme court declared Georgia's sodomy law constitutional. This meant that gay couples are not allowed to perform oral or anal sex even while in private. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights act which prohibits the discrimination of a person because they are crippled or handicapped. This allowed equal opportunity to those who are handicapped in some way. -
Lawrence v. Texas
In this court case, the supreme court decided that prohibiting gay sex in the privacy of ones own home was unconstitutional. This case compliments Bowers v. Hardwick. After seventeen years, the court changed their mind on a previously made decision.
