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Dred Scott v Sandford
Dred Scott lost. The court had ruled that African Americans had no citizenship and had no rights to even sue in a federal court. They also went on to explain the 5th Amendment protected slavery because their slaves were property. This ruling came from a jury that was very much in favor of state’s rights and this case was a very big push on abolitionist, which grew the divide between slave states and free states. Or in other words, it fueled only fueled the fire of the Civil War -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was the official amendment that ended slavery. It ruled against not only slavery, but involuntary servitude. This was obviously the biggest step forward in African American rights our country had ever seen. This legislature was also a foundation for later civil rights legislature, like the one banning black codes. This did not ensure all equality for African American citizens, but this first step was a momentum that was needed to start the Reconstruction Era. -
14th Amendment
This Amendment gave African American’s citizenship in the United States. It also protected them under the same laws that white people were protected by, and even expanded this to the states. This was huge, because the Constitution was directly applied to the states so it not only expanded rights of African Americans by allowing them access to the protection of the Bill of Rights and giving them basic freedoms, but it also expanded the power of the federal government with the due process clause. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. While this was an attempt to get their voices heard, many states (especially in the south) adopted discriminatory practices making it harder for African Americans to vote by giving them endless and impossible hoops to jump through.The passing of this Amendment highlighted the continuing battle for equality for African Americans that was still prevalent in this time. -
Plessy v Ferguson
This supreme court case ruled in favor of segregation, and allowed segregation to continue. The famous “separate but equal” clause allowed for public places to keep their discriminatory practices and only set back the Civil Rights movement. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment was the voting rights amendment of all voting rights amendments. This amendment allowed for equal voting rights for everyone, including women and African Americans. This was a big step because it gave African American women the right to vote and reinstated that race is not a barrier for voting. -
White Primaries
These are what the name entails - primary elections where only white voters could vote. This was damaging because black voters may not have even got a candidate they liked because they had to vote from the voting poll that white people themselves elected -
Brown v Board of Education
This Supreme Court Case ruled that schools could no longer segregate kids based on their skin color. This was big because every kid got the same access to education and was the first ruling that went directly against Plessy v Ferguson. This step was very big for putting an end to segregation. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is like positive discrimination. It is favoring minorities, like women and racial minorities, groups that once were pushed on the back burner. This is big because minorities are now getting more opportunities than ever with affirmative action. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibited any kind of poll taxes or Jim Crow laws, which were ways states were making it harder for African Americans to vote. This did not give them the equal voice that all citizens are supposed to get in the United States. This step forward ensured African American’s voices in the government, giving them more equality than they had before. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act banned any kind of segregation and discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. It banned any kind of segregation in public places, gave the Office of Education public funds to assist in desegregation in schools, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision which allowed lawsuits to be filed by workers who feel they have been wronged. This was such a huge law, because it ended the “separate but equal” ruling. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were (and still are) taxes that have to be paid by any voter who wishes to cast a ballot. However, it used to be grandfathered, which meant that any male who had a father or grandfather who had voted in previous elections did not have to pay. This was aggravating because Africans Americans didn’t even have the right to vote then, so they didn’t even have a chance to qualify for this. This also meant only mainly African American citizens were paying to vote -
Voting Rights Act
This act not only helped shutdown the poll taxes faster that were already banned by the 24th Amendment, it also got rid of literacy tests. Literacy tests were used on African American voters to determine if they were smart enough to vote. This was very unfair because many African Americans that were old enough to vote did not have good access to education (if any) when they were younger so they were not very literate. -
Reed v Reed
Reed v Reed seems like a small case, ruling that administrators can’t be named based off sex. This gave women a big power they didn’t even know they needed - to have financial power. -
Eqqual Rights Amendment
This proposed amendment was going to cover equality all around on the basis of sex. It would basically be like the Civil Rights Act, but the Women Rights Act. This would be a big step forward for women, allowing them things like equal pay and job opportunity but all of the necessary states never ratified it. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
This court case was very interesting. The court did rule in favor of allowing race to still be a factor in the college admissions process, but did establish some other racial quotes. One example is having to have a certain number of minority students at your school. This was big because there HAD to be minorities at school, so schools weren’t all white men anymore. -
Bowers v Hardwick
This supreme court case allowed Georgia to have laws against gay sex. This law would punish any gay men found having sex, and allowed little to no privacy in gay relationships. -
Americans With Disabilities Act
This piece of legislature denied discrimination to anyone with a disability. This was very important because it allowed a lot more people to get work, regardless of their disability. It has created many jobs too, like the Walmart greeter. -
Lawrence v Texas
Lawrence v Texas was a direct shut down of Bowers v Hardwick, ruling that any law against gay sex is unconstitutional. This is because of the privacy factor that we get as Americans. A relationship is very private and not subject to governmental approval. -
Obergefell v Hodges
This supreme court case ruled that gay marriage was legal across all fifty states. This was very big, becuase up until now only a few states allowed gay marriage and many states refused to recognize it. While this wasn’t end game with discrimination, it did take a big leap forward.
