Civil Rights Timeline

  • Dred Scott v. Sanford

    Escaped slaves have no rights even in free states. The supreme court ruled that even though Dred Scott had lived in a free state he was still his master's property.
  • 13th Amendment ratified

    13th Amendment ratified
    The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. This was the first of the civil war amendments. It gave freedom to all African American slaves, but did not guarentee equality for them.
  • 15th Amendment

    15th Amendment
    This Amendment gave African American males the right to votte, Even so there were many ways to prevent them form actully being able to vote. Poll taxes and litereacy tests were very common in the south se==especially.
  • 19th Amendment

    This amendment gave women suffrage. This was one of the first major steps toward gender equality.
  • Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada

    Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada
    Supreme Court case that ruled Missouri cannon force a student to go to an out of state school and he must be admitted to the all white Missouri School of law.
  • Korematsu v. The US

    Korematsu v. The US
    Supreme Court decision that ruled internment of Japanese Americans was constitutional. After the Pearl Harbor attack Japanese Americans were put into camps to make sure there were not any spies. Years after the US government apologized and paid compensation to the families.
  • Brown v. The board of Education

    Supreme court decision that ruled segregation in schools is unconstitutional. "Divided but equal" does not appply to education.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    This made racial discrimination in public places illegal. (hotels, motels, restaurants, ect.) It also made many forms of job discrimination illegal.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Designed to end discrimination at the polls for African American voters. With the help of this law hundreds of thousanda of African Americans were registered for voting.
  • Loving V. Virginia

    Supreme Court case that stuck down state bans on interracial marriages.
  • Frontiero v. Richardson

    Supreme Court case that struck down law that decided benefits on the basis of gender. Job benefits and pay should be based on the abilityt to preform the tax not on the gender of the employee.
  • Obergefell v. Hodges

    Got rid of state bans on same sex marriage. Marriage is a natural right even for those of the same gender. It was ruled unconstitutional for states to not allow couples to marry reguardless of gender.