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Dred Scott v Sanford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress lacked the power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. This amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865 -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including formerly enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans would become the basis for many landmark Supreme Court decisions over the years. -
Fifteenth Amendment
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 -
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Poll Tax
Payment of a poll tax was a prerequisite to the registration for voting in a number of states until 1965. The tax emerged in some states of the United States in the late nineteenth century as part of the Jim Crow laws. -
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White Primaries
White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. -
Plessy v Ferguson
U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. -
Nineteenth
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recognizing the right of women to a vote. -
Brown v The Board of Education
In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were inherently unequal. -
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
citizens in some states had to pay a fee to vote in a national election. This fee was called a poll tax. On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
Voting Rights At of 1965
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Affirmative action
Does affirmative action refer to a set of policies within a government/ organization seeking to include particular groups such as race, age, gender, sexuality, etc. in areas in which they are underrepresented(I chose this because Executive Order 11246 enforces affirmative action for the first time
Issued by President Johnson, the executive order requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment). -
Reed v Reed
The Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Reed v. Reed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke is a 1978 Supreme Court case that held that a university's admissions criteria which used race as a definite and exclusive basis for an admission decision violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
In Bowers v. Hardwick the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not protect the right of gay adults to engage in private, consensual sodomy. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. -
Motor Voter Act
The Motor Voter Act was created to enhance voting opportunities for every American. The Act has made it easier for all Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration. -
Lawrence v. Texas
The Court ruled that sanctions of criminal punishment for those who commit sodomy are unconstitutional. The Court reaffirmed the concept of a "right to privacy" is a part of the United States Constitution although it is not specifically enumerated. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
the Supreme Court of the United States 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 to the United States Constitution.