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The 13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. Slavery is not allowed in any state or territory under the government of the United States. This was the start to the fight for Civil Rights for African Americans. Although they were free, they still had 100 years worth of barriers in front of them. -
The 14th Amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the United States are subject to its laws and cannot be denied any of the rights and privileges contained in the Constitution. All former slaves given citizenship. Everyone has equal rights. This is important because this gave former slaves their citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law. This also gave African Americans their basic rights. -
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Jim Crow Laws (Extra)
Jim Crow laws were state/local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted by white Democrat-dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. The laws were enforced until 1965. These laws were African Americans biggest obstacle and actually helped fuel the Civil Rights movement. These laws stayed in place for nearly 100 years. These laws were officially abolished in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed followed by the Voting Rights Act (1965). -
Plessy V. Ferguson
This Supreme Court Case was a landmark decision of the U.S. The decision upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – "separate but equal". -
The 19th Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution forbids the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. Before this, many states didn't allow women to vote. This is very important to the Civil Rights movement because now women could not be denied the right to vote. -
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Brown V. Board of Education
This Supreme Court decision that overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision (1896), the Court ruled that "separate but equal" schools for blacks were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. -
Rosa Parks Refusal
By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks help initiate the Montgomery Bus Boycott that begun the day Parks was convicted for not following segregation laws. This boycott lasted over a year. The US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on a bus is unconstitutional. This helped end some segregation in the South. -
The Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine consisted of group of African American students that enrolled at an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many white citizens of Little Rock were upset about the black students integrating into an all-white school. Governor Orval Faubus called in the state National guard to bar the student's entry into the school. Eisenhower sent Federal troops to escort the LR9 into school. This is significant because this demonstrated the power of the Federal Government. -
The March on Washington
This was the largest political rally for human rights ever in the United States. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 participants marched on to Washington, D.C., to protest for jobs and freedom for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This march was credited with being the driving force that pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the US. This outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. This is very significant because this ended Jim Crow Laws in the south for good. Not only was this a victory for African Americans but a victory for women as well by ending sexism in the work place. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This was designed to help end barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered to vote.
