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13th Amendment
The thirteenth amendment abolished slaver and involuntary servitude in the United States of America. It was passed by the Senate on April 8th, 1864, by the House on January 31st, 1865, and adopted on December 6th, 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment nullified the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Compromise. -
Jim Crow
Jim Crow refers to a set of racial segregation laws that have been present in society for hundreds of years. These "laws" existed from 1865 to 1965 and exhibited de jure segregation and were used as excuses to impose unfair treatment on colored citizens. Many tried to use the phrase "seperate but equal" to justify Jim Crow laws but such was only an excuse. It was not until the latter half of the 20th century that these laws ceased to exist. -
14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified on july 9th, 1868. This amendment addressed citizen rights and equal protection of the laws. It arose from issues relating to former slaves after the end of the civil war. It states that all people born in the U.S. are citizens of the U.S., but also says how many representatives there should be per state and restrictions against said representatives. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes in the U.S. were used as de facto segregation as a part of Jim Crow Laws to prevent non-white from voting in federal elections. Such taxes consisted of monentary taxes. Poll taxes were eliminated in 1966 in the court case of Harper V. Viginia Board of Elections which declared poll taxes as violations to the Equal Protections Clause. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified on February 3rd, 1870, prohibits the federal and state governments from preventing citizens the right to vote based on their race, skin, or previous condition of servitude. This was a landmark amendment because it kickstarted the creation of equal rights for colored citizens, and ultimately added momentum to the civil rights movement. -
Literacy Tests
Literacy Tests were writing and reading based tests imposed on non-whites who were trying to vote in federal elections. Due to former slaves and poor immigrants having little knowledge of the english language, they were often unable to complete and pass the tests meaning they could not vote. States did not get rid of the tests until the 1960's when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed and ratified. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
Plessy V. Ferguson was a court case in which Homer Plessy, a seven-eiths caucasion, sat in a whites-only car of a train. He refused to move to the rear blacks-only car when asked and was arrested. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court and it was decided that his treatment was in fact constitutional, that it ultimately fell under the seperate-but-equal doctrine. -
19th Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment, proposed in 1919 and ratified on August 18th, 1920, states that no citizen can be denied the right to vote based on gender. This was a landmark achievment for women's rights activists around the country because it paved the future road for additional women's rights. -
Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu v. the U.S. was a court case concerning the whether the order of Japanese into Internment camps during World War II was constitutional or not. On December 18th, 1944, it was decided that such camps did not violate the constitution. This case is a bit of a setback for equal rights due to the Japanese being forced against their will to live in the camps. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Sweatt v. Painter was a court case in 1950 about a black man known as Heman Sweatt who was denied entry to a law school at the University of Texas. When Sweatt argued his case, it reached the Supreme Court and was decided unanimously that his denied admission violated the Equal Protection Clause, and that any school built for blacks would have been highly inadequate to the school for whites. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark court case that ruled that seperate schools for blacks and whites are unconstitutional. This decision integrated schools and was widely protested throughout the country, but it was a huge victory for African Americans. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest regarding the racial segregation of America. It all started on December 1st 1955 when a young African American commuter named Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white man. This sparked a nation wide protest lasting until December 20th, 1956. This prostest ultimately led to the Supreme Court's decision that segregated bus laws are unconstitutional. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is another landmark piece in the civil rights movement. This act, effective August 6th 1956, enforced the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments. It effectively assured full rights to Minorities to vote and prevented any laws from being made to descriminate minorities and voting. -
24th Amendment
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964. This amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from placing poll taxes or other types of tax in federal elections. Although ratified late in the civil rights movement, this amendment further progressed equal rights for African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights act of 1964 was a major addition to the civil rights movement. The act ultimately banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also ended unequal application of voter requirements and racial segregation in schools, at work, and places that served the general public. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is the term used to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a society to give them equal acces to that of the privilaged majority population. This was prevelant int he latter half of the 20th century regarding colleges and providing benefits and aid to minorities. -
Robert Kennedy's Speech Regarding Assasination of MLK
Robert Kennedy addressed a crowed of hundreds in Indianapolis on April 4th, 1968 regarding the recent assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy was the first to inform his crowd of the death of MLK, which caused mass distress and despair in the audience. He emphasized on MLK's ideals in his speech mentioning that the U.S. should be about peace and wisdom, not violence and lawlessness. His speech is thought to have prevented angry riots in Indianapolis that night. -
Reed v. Reed
Reed v. Reed was a court case between a married couple, Sally and Cecil. They were in conflict over which of them would be designated as administrator of their dead son's estate. The current Idaho code state that males must be preferred to females, but in this case, that code was ruled unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This court case was about Bakke, a white man who was rejected entry to a medical college due to affirmative action and the college accepting minorities. He argued that his better test scores and GPA should allow him entry. The decision was not exact. The Supreme Court determined that colleges should minimize opposition to white applicants but continue providing aid to minorities. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal RIghts Amendment was first introduced in 1923, but it wasnt until much later, in 1979, that it was ratified. This amendment says that all citizens of the U.S., regardless of sex, have complete and equal rights under the law and cannot be denied said laws. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Bowers v. Hardwick was a case in which Michael Hardwick was observed by Georgia police partaking in homosexual sodomy with another male adult. Police determined that his actions violated a Georgia Statute. The Supreme Court ruled that the police's decision did not violate the constitution because the constitution does not provide any protection for acts of sodomy, and that it was the state's decision to outlaw such practices. -
Americans with Disablilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities act was introduced in early 1990 and enacted later that year on July 26th. This civil rights law prohibits discrimination based on any disabilities. Disabilities that fall under this law are considered both mental and physical medical conditions. This act further proved that America was further making its way toward equality for all. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This court cas was a landmark victory for homosexuals around the country in that the Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in Texas and 13 other states allowing same-sex sexual activity in every U.S. state and territory. This ultimately overturned the Bowers v. Hardwick court decision. -
Indiana Gay Rights Court Battle
Advocates for gay rights have been fighting a hard fought battle throughout the U.S. for the past decades. Gay Rights have just become popular issue here in Indiana as of 2012. Indiana courts continue to delay their rulings on wheather banning same sex marriage is unconstitutional, and with a checkered history, gays were allowed to be wed for one week only earlier in the year. This is an ongoing battle and the court isn't scheduled to decide until September 29th. -
Fisher v. Texas
Fisher v. Texas was a recent court cas in which a college hopeful, Fisher, was denied admission due to the university's use of race as a consideration of admission and was in violation of the Equal Protections Clause. The Supreme Court ruled that the university's admission policies were not set to a standard of strict scutiny, so the judgement was incorrect.
