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Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. He resided in Illinois (a free state) and an area of Lousiana Territory (where slavery was forbidden. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued unsuccessfully in the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. Held portions of the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in violation of the Fifth Amendment, treating Scott as property, not as a person. -
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Reconstruction and Reconstruction Amendments
The Amendments established equality for blacks. The era was the time after the Civil War that focused and addressed the rebuilding of the U.S. -
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Jim Crow
Marked the end of the Reconstruction period, and kept segregation. "separate but equal" -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A court case that upheld the concept of 'separate but equal' laws of racial segregations. Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Lousiana Law. -
19th Amendment
Women's suffrage -
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Scottsboro Boys
Where two white girls accused a gang of black boys raping them. The Scottsboro Boys were denied due process and they were sentenced to death despite the evidence of no such crime. There were no black jurors and the Equal Protection Law was violated. -
George Stinney case
Convicted of murder and youngest person in the US to be murdered at 14. This was the result of a racially biased case. -
Brown v. Board
Argued that denied admittance to certain public schools did not support the Equal Protection clause. Under Plessy v. Ferguson the separate but equal concept was used to judge to case. But the white facilities were of higher quality. The court ruled that black people should be allowed admittance into the same facilities. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 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. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. -
California v. Bakke
The school Bakke was applying to had rejected him twice. There was a policy to reserve 16 seats for qualified minorities (part of the affirmative action program in order to combat the issue of there not being enough diversity in the med field). Despite having the qualifications for the school, Bakke went to court to argue that his exclusion from admission was due to race. The school's rigid use of racial quotas violated the Equal Protection Clause and Bakke was admitted. -
Gratz v. Bollinger
UM uses a 100 point system whereas if you have 100 points you are likely admission. 20 points to non-whites, and then a white student sues under the Equal Protection Clause, the white student won because the court said that this policy would have admitted every minority of whatever case a plus 20 points. -
Meredith v. Jefferson Co Board (Louisville School Integration)
Overturned racial quota demands because they were not aimed at educational benefit.
- No lower than 15% and no higher than 50% (black students)
- May a public school district that has not operated legally segregated schools choose to male school assignments on the basis of race?
- The Court applied a "strict scrutiny" framework and found Jefferson County's enrollment plan unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Shelby County v. Holder (elimination of the pre clearance enforcement)
Voting Rights Act (1965) was unconstitutional because it did not respect the equal sovereignty of the states. The court found that the test established in 1965 was outdated and needed Congressional update. Preclerance--certain localities must get pre-approval before caning a voting law.They looked at 1964 data of black voter turnout, then there must have been some gameplay, (fight for Civil Right).