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Dread Scott v. Sandford
While living through the country, Dread Scott lived in Missouri from 1833-1843. During his time there, he filed a case in the state court deeming that he ought to be a free citizen since the state of Missouri had become a free state at this point, rendered by the Missouri Compromise. He lost the first case, and in doing so, brought a new case to the Supreme Court, although the argument was very much the same. In a majority 7/2 vote, Scott once again lost the case, deeming that he was property. -
Amendment XIII
The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery any any forced servitude unless in cases of criminal offenses or crimes done. This was created just 9 months after the end of the Civil War, reinforcing what it was fought for and how important the abolition of slavery in America was. With slaves being freed, it was a bit difficult to find a place for all of them live and what to do with the substantial number of independent citizens in America, especially after fighting the worst war we've been in. -
Amendment XIV
The fourteenth Amendment reinforced freedom for African Americans, stating that since every person was equal within the states, that African Americans deserved equal treatment as well and would also be treated as such. It also allowed for any man 21 or older vote during elections and being counted as population in censuses and when having representatives within the senate. -
Amendment XV
To add onto the 14th amendment, the 15th gives the security that no eligible male citizen can be denied the right to vote based off the color of their skin or race. They can also not be forced into any servitude lest it should be a punishment for a crime. Passed in 1870, it only allowed MEN to vote, unfortunately. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This was a huge case that first established the idea of "Separate but Equal", deeming that the segregation of whites from blacks was ok as long as the standards of their segregation was equal. This led to segregated schools, restrooms, and really anything you could imagine. This obviously didn't work because they were not treated equally, and the American government turned their backs on the African Americans which would build up to the Civil Rights Act. -
Amendment XIX
This allowed for the elimination of discrimination in voting regardless of gender, so now women had a say as well! Hooray! Not much to cover in this except for the fact that it was just a copied and pasted law from like all the other Amendments and laws and just said women at the end. So now, no segregation of voting, but with gender. Half of all of the Amendments are really just about voting segregation... -
White Primaries
Yet, another way around the Civil Rights Act, I have to say, White people in the 1900's were almost as good as exploiting loopholes as me. This kept it so only white people could vote as they were specifically held for WHITE people. Designed to disenfranchise the African Americans, they were organized by rich white Democrats and succeeded for some time. -
Brown v. Board of Education
After all the segregation and after all the "Separate but Equal" crap, through the Civil Rights Act, this court case went all the way up to the Supreme Court, deeming that a child of another race was allowed to attend a "white" school, and the court agreed in saying that it was Unconstitutional to keep them segregated, even if segregated schools were equal in quality. -
Amendment XXIV
This eliminated a poll tax on voting for any person, meaning that they did not have to pay a fine for wanting to vote, yet another one of the Jim Crow Laws that sought to keep African American representation out of the ballots. Ratified on January 23, 1964 -
Poll Taxes
Like I mentioned earlier, the Poll Tax was just a simple way to keep the poor African Americans from voting by charging money to cast your vote. However, because people were really stupid back then, this backfired because it also kept poor white people from voting as well, since they couldn't make segregated laws. Safe to say that eventually, it was eliminated, just like my will to continue this project. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
As stated, it grants Civil Rights to every person, regardless of race or color, gender or origin. It eliminated segregation in schools and employment. A pinnacle point for African Americans in their fight for Civil Rights, defining how all their efforts went into the singular moment of July 2, 1964 -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Once again, another law that was passed to help prohibit "racial discrimination". You would think that after the 5 or 6 other laws I've talked about and Amendments that made "racial discrimination in voting" that there would be equal rights, especially since this came AFTER the Civil Rights Act, but I guess not, so they passed another law. Unoriginal and probable to make another equal voting law, this is specified as the "landmark piece of federal registration" for some reason. -
Reed v. Reed
People are really stupid and greedy sometimes, and this is a perfect case of that. A couple by the name of Reed, had been separated and, well, not happy with each other we'll say. After their son passed away, they had a nice service to remember him and his deed- NOPE! Those two, instead of banding together like a mother and father should do in a time like this, decide to go to court to fight over their now dead son's estate. This was the first major case that helped make women equal in society. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This one is just like the 19th amendment but with rights. It just eliminates all discrimination between men and women in every regard, making them equal in legal distinctions as well like divorce, property and employment. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This was interesting as it first began to let race to be considered into colleges when accepting applications. As a Hispanic American, I can deem that this being included did help, especially for the future for schools looking to be more ethnically diverse and giving opportunities to minorities or people of other races. It did have to monitored for a bit to make sure that everything was neutral in decisions and no one would segregate against people from other races in their applications. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
So this one is actually really in depth and complicated, stating that people with disabilities cannot be discriminated against. So even with the laws of giving men and women, black and white, bond and free all their rights, I guess people with disabilities were still frowned upon? I assume that this was more for the work place, as in people couldn't be turned down for being disabled if it was a universal job an able bodied man or woman could do.