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Declaration of Independence
The beginning of Civil Rights in America, even if those rights only extended to white, land owning men. Independence was declared from the British, granting the colonists the ability to choose what they wanted their government to look like. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution 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." Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century due to poll taxes, literacy tests, etc. -
Colorado Grants Women the Right to Vote
Colorado was the first state to grant voting rights to women. It was a large victory for the sufferage movement and a great step in the fight for voting rights for women. -
Plessy VS Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." -
NAACP is Founded
An African-American civil rights organization in the United States. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination". -
19th Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. -
Executive Order 10450
It charged the heads of federal agencies and the Office of Personnel Management, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with investigating federal employees to determine whether they posed security risks. Without explicitly referring to homosexuality, the executive order responded to several years of charges that the presence of homosexual employees in the State Department posed blackmail risks. -
Brown VS Board of Education
A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. -
One, INC. VS Olesen
One, Inc. v. Olesen was the first U.S. Supreme Court ruling to deal with homosexuality and the first to address free speech rights with respect to homosexuality. -
Illinois Repeals its Sodomy Laws
The first state to repeal its anti-sodomy laws. Said laws usually prohibited sex between two people of the same geneder. -
24th Amendment
The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
This act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
Voting Rights Act 1965
Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States. A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
Stonewall Inn Riots
The Stonewall riots were 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. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. -
Title IX
State that, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." -
APA Removes Homosexuality as a Mental Disorder
The APA recognized that homosexuality was not some mental disorder that could be cured and was something intangible. Therefore there was reason to "cure" it as there is nothing wrong with not being sexualy attracted to someone of the opposite gender. -
Don't Ask Don't Tell
This was the official United States policy on service by gays and lesbians in the military. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. -
Defense of Marriage Act
A United States federal law that allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. -
Massachusetts Legalizes Gay Marriage
A result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts became the sixth jurisdiction in the world (after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec) to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. -
Don't Ask Don't Tell is Repealed
With the repeal of DADT those who are homosexual now could serve in the U.S. military openly without fear of repercussions.
