Key trio of Civil War Amendments that greatly impacted Civil Rights for Black Americans.
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment formally ended the institution of slavery throughout the United States, bringing an official close to a key cause of the Civil War.
Passed June 13, 1866 and ratified July 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formally enslaved people. A major provision of the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States".
Passed on February 26, 1870 and ratified on February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. Prohibiting the federal government and states from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
A landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The case overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), decision, which had established the doctrine of "separate but equal" and allowed for legalized segregation. The case was a consolidation of several lawsuits against segregated schools systems, most notably in Topeka, Kansas. African American parents, represented by lawyers from the NAACP, challenged the constitutionality of segregated schools. On May 17, 1954, the court unanimously ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and violated the 14th Amendment. The decision mandated the desegregation of public schools across the country. Although the resistance to desegregation persisted, the ruling paved the way for further civil rights advancements, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A landmark of federal legislation in the U.S. that aimed to eliminate racial discrimination in voting. After the violent suppression of civil rights activists in places like Selma and Alabama, August 6, 1965,Congress passed the Voting Rights Act to enforce the 15th Amendment and protect African Americans right to vote. The Voting Rights Act enforced the 15th Amendment, making it illegal to use literacy test, poll taxes, and other discriminatory tactics to disenfranchise Black voters.