AA Voting Rights and Civil Rights History

Mississippi vs Williams 1898

Upheld voting qualifications

US v Guinn 1915

Grandfather clause ruled unconstitutional, removing voting qualification

Selma Campaign 1965

Campaign for voting rights

Voting Rights Act 1965

Established the right to vote after Selma Campaign

Reagan reaffirmation of VRA 1982

Reaffirmed VRA, showed lingering discriminatory attitudes

15th amendment 1870

Granted all men vote regardless of color, hampered by states' rights

Smith v Allwright 1944

Removed Texas' voting rights, eliminating voting qualification

24th amendment 1964

Abolished poll tax alongside Civil Rights Act

Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas

First African Americans on Supreme Court

Shirley Chisholm

First African American woman in Congress

Mary Macleod Bethune

Led FDR's black cabinet

Jesse Jackson

Secured 7 million votes in 1988 Democratic primaries

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party 1964

Led by Fanny Lou Hamer, fought for voting rights

13th amendment 1865

Emancipated slaves

14th amendment 1868

Granted equal protection under law to all

KKK act 1871

Outlawed the KKK

Slaughterhouse cases 1873

Challenged states' rights promoting racism

US v Cruikshank 1875

Limited 14th amendment against state discrimination only

1896 Plessy v Ferguson

Established 'separate but equal' doctrine

1899 Cummings vs Board of Education

Extended 'separate but equal' to schools

Hayes Compromise 1877

Ended Reconstruction, displayed negative attitudes toward African Americans

US v Harris

Allowed states to handle murder and assault cases, enabling discrimination

NAACP

Founded in 1909 by W.E.B DuBois and Ida B Wells

Civil Rights Act 1991

Introduced by Bush to strengthen the 1964 Civil rights act

Swann vs Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education 1971

Ruled that the practice of mandatory bussing to achieve integration of schools was legal

Green vs Connally 1970

Federal funds would be withheld from higher education institutions that continued to have a policy of segregation

Bakke vs University of California 1978

Ruled that affirmative action was constitutional but invalidated the use of racial quotas