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13th Amendments
The 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States. The first article states that slavery or involuntary servitude are prohibited except when used as a punishment for crime. Section two just gives Congress the power to enforce the article with appropriate legislation. Prior to it’s ratification, most slaves had already been freed by Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, but some people saw the proclamation as temporary, so they made it official in the amendment. This ame -
14th Amendments
The 14th Amendment, which includes the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, provided a broad definition of what it means to be a citizen and, therefore, secured the rights of former slaves. This amendment also overturned the Dred Scott court case, which excluded blacks. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote by declaring a citizen should not be denied the right on account of “race color or previous condition of servitude.” This amendment took almost a century to be fully realized. -
Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws were racial segregation state and local laws that were enacted after the Reconstruction period. It started in 1890 with a “separate but equal” status for African Americans which limited economic, educational, and social aspects of their lives. These laws segregated things like schools, transportation, restrooms, the military, workplaces, and many other public places. -
Plessy v.Fersuson
The court case that decided that seperate places for blacks and whites was consitutional if it was equal. There were noticible flaws in this decision. abloished in 1954 -
Literacy Tests
Literacy tests were created for a similar purpose as poll taxes: to keep as many blacks from being able to vote. At first, whites were exempted from the tests if they could meet alternate requirements. But all blacks were required to answer unfair questions. Some of questions included were naming all 67 county judges in a state, naming the date on which a state was admitted to the Union, or saying how many bubbles were on a bar of soap. -
19th Amendment
Like the Voting Rights Act, The 19th Amendment prohibits denying someone the right to vote, but instead of race, it’s based off specifically sex. Prior to 1920, most states didn’t allow women to vote. The amendment was the result of the women’s suffrage movement. It took 41 years for it to be approved for ratification. -
Korematsu v.United States
Fred Korematsu refused to obey the wartime order to leave his home and report to a relocation camp for Japanese Americans. He was arrested and convicted. After losing in the Court of Appeals, he appealed to the United States Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the deportation order. -
Sweatt v. Painter
In 1946, Heman Marion Sweatt, a black man, applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School. State law restricted access to the university to whites, and Sweatt's application was automatically rejected because of his race. When Sweatt asked the state courts to order his admission, the university attempted to provide separate but equal facilities for black law students. -
Brown v Board of Education
This case is a consolidation of several different cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Several black children sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segregation based on race. The plaintiffs alleged that segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the Jim Crow Laws regarding racial segregation in public transportation systems in Montgomery Alabama. The campaign started in December 1955 when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person. People boycotted by taking advantage of other methods of transportation which caused economic distress on the bus system. Opposing whites tried everything they could to get them to stop, but they alw -
American with Disabilities
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities -
Lawerance v. Texas
Houston police were dispatched to Lawrence’s apartment in response to a reported weapons disturbance. The officers found Lawrence and Garner engaged in a sexual act. Lawrence and Garner were charged and convicted under Texas law of “deviate sexual intercourse, namely anal sex, with a member of the same sex.” Lawrence and Garner challenged the statute as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Lawrence and Garner were each fined $200 and order to pay -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were a prerequisite for voting in the late 19th Century. After the 15th Amendment was passed, many states enacted poll tax laws as a way to restrict voting rights. Additionally, many states had complex record-keeping requirements that made it difficult for sharecroppers and tenant farmers to comply with since they moved a lot. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment declared that a citizen’s right to vote shall not be denied or abridged by failing to pay any kind of taxes. This amendment eliminated the Grandfather Clauses, legal exploitation, and prejudicial examinations, which all required individuals to pay poll taxes to retain the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Acts of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. All people were given equal access to public places and opportunities like employment, schools, and the right to vote. It did not put a complete stop to discrimination, but it did help open the door to further progress. -
Voting Rights Acts of 1965
This act is very similar to the Civil Right Act of 1964, but it specifically applies to voting rights. It prohibited denying someone the right to vote based off of race. Additionally, it outlawed literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities. It was designed to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. -
Robert Kennedy Speech in Indianpolis upon death of MLK
Kennedy was visiting popular universities in Indiana campaigning to earn the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination the day MLK was assassinated. When he heard that he had died, he traveled to 17th and Broadway, the heart of Indianapolis’s African-American ghetto, to deliver the news. He explained that America shouldn’t be about hatred, violence, lawlessness, but instead, love, wisdom, and compassion toward one another despite race. In his conclusion, he asked the audience to pray for our count -
Reed v. Reed
In 1971, Reed v. Reed became the first U.S. Supreme Court case to declare sex discrimination a violation of the 14th Amendment. In Reed v. Reed, the Court held that an Idaho law's unequal treatment of men and women based on sex was a violation of the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
The Respondent, Bakke (Respondent), a white applicant to the University of California, Davis Medical School, sued the University, alleging his denial of admission on racial grounds was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. -
Equal Rights Amendments
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
A male homosexual was criminally charged for committing consensual sodomy with another male adult in the bedroom of his home -
Fisher v Texas
Fisher sued the university, arguing that the denial violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection because she was denied admission to the public university in favor of minority applicants with lesser credentials. Fisher contends that the university’s admission policy cannot survive strict scrutiny as required by Grutter v. Bollinger. The university argues that its admissions policy is essentially identical to the policy upheld in Grutter. It asserts that its use of a holistic admis -
Gay Rights in Indiana
On June 25th, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Young ruled in the case, striking down Indiana’s marriage ban. Same-sex couples were able to marry for several days before the ruling was stayed pending appeal.On September 4, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the freedom to marry in Indiana, upholding Judge Young’s ruling. All parties involved in the case urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and decide the question of whether same-sex couples had the freedom to marry nationwide.