This is a list of landmark

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

, court decisions,

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

s, and proclamations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

significantly affecting

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Congressional Legislation

Bills not passed

Land Ordinance of 1784 The Ordinance of 1784 (enacted April 23, 1784) called for the land in the recently created United States which was located west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate s ...

: Prohibited slavery in any new states after the year 1800. Omitted in final version of the bill *

Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...

(1847) - sought to prohibit

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in the territory acquired in the Mexican-American War. * Lodge Fair Elections bill (1890) - proposal to empower the federal government to ensure fair elections. Failed after the Republican Party dropped support for it in exchange for the South's support of the

McKinley Tariff The Tariff Act of 1890, commonly called the McKinley Tariff, was an act of the United States Congress, framed by then Representative William McKinley, that became law on October 1, 1890. The tariff raised the average duty on imports to almost fift ...

and the

Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...

. *

Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1918) was first introduced in the 65th United States Congress by Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States House of Representatives as H.R. 11279 in order “to prot ...

(1921) - sought to codify lynching as a federal crime. Defeated after a

Senate filibuster A filibuster is a tactic used in the U.S. Senate to delay or block a vote on a measure by preventing debate on it from ending. The Senate's rules place few restrictions on debate; in general, if no other senator is speaking, a senator who seek ...

Southern Democrats Southern Democrats, historically sometimes known colloquially as Dixiecrats, are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States. Southern Democrats were generally much more conservative than Northern Democrats wi ...

. * Costigan-Wagner antilynching bill (1934) * Gavagan-Fish antilynching bill (1940) * Civil Rights Act of 1990 - sought to ease requirements for plaintiffs in civil rights litigation. Passed by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

but vetoed by President George H.W. Bush. * Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (2021-22), a proposed act to investigate potential reparations for slavery in the United States, introduced as H.R. 40 * George Floyd Justice In Policing Act (2020-21) - sought to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in American policing after murders of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks.

Bills signed into law

Slave Codes The slave codes were laws relating to slavery and enslaved people, specifically regarding the Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery in the Americas. Most slave codes were concerned with the rights and duties of free people in regards to ensla ...

(1685-1865) - Series of laws limiting legal rights of slaves. Included establishment of

slave patrol Slave patrols—also known as patrollers, patterrollers, pattyrollers or paddy rollersVerner D. Mitchell, Cynthia Davis (2019). ''Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement''. p. 323. Rowman & Littlefield—were organized groups of armed men who m ...

s, limitations on freedom of movement, anti-literacy regulation, restrictions on commerce, and punishments for other infractions. ** South Carolina slave codes (1685) - modeled on slave codes in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. **

Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 (formally entitled An act concerning Servants and Slaves), were a series of laws enacted by the Colony of Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1705 regulating the interactions between slaves and citizens of the crown col ...

** New York slave codes (1702) * Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government ("Northwest Ordinance") - Prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory north of the Ohio River. *

Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution ( Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), which was later superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, and to also gi ...

- Guaranteed rights of slaveholders to retrieve escaped slaves. * An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves 1807 - legally prohibited the

international slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. *

Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation of the United States that balanced desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and ...

(1820) - prohibited slavery north of

parallel 36°30′ north The parallel 36°30′ north is a circle of latitude that is 36 and one-half degrees north of the equator of the Earth. This parallel of latitude is particularly significant in the history of the United States as the line of the Missouri C ...

, with the exception of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, but allowed its continuation in the South. Resulted in the sectional factionalism between

slave states and free states In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

which lead to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and the continuation of slavery in the South. *

Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–Am ...

(1850) – Series of Congressional legislative measures addressing slavery and the boundaries of territories acquired during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

(1846–1848). **

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most cont ...

– Made any federal marshal or other official who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave liable to a fine of $1,000 *

Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by ...

(1854) - Allowed residents of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

to determine whether to abolish or adopt slavery based on "

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...

" *

Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is a law passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War forbidding all officers or persons in the military or naval service to return escaped former slaves to their owners with the a ...

(1862) - prohibited the

U.S. Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

from returning escaped slaves to their former masters. * Enrollment Act (1863) – Established conscription for the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. Resulted in

Draft Riots The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of white working-cl ...

in several American cities, most famously

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Noted for the devastating loss of life and property among African-Americans in New York City. * Black Codes (1865–66) - series of laws passed by Southern state legislatures restricting the political franchise and economic opportunity of free blacks, with heavy legal penalties for

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

and restrictive employment contracts. * Civil Rights Act of 1866 – Declared that all persons born in the

were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition *

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

(1866) - established organization to provide relief and employment to freed African-Americans. *

Reconstruction Act The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, (March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 428-430, c.153; March 23, 1867, 15 Stat. 2-5, c.6; July 19, 1867, 15 Stat. 14-16, c.30; and March 11, 1868, 15 Stat. 41, c.25) were four statutes passed duri ...

– A series of four acts provided for the division of all former Confederate states into five military districts; Each district would be headed by a military commander, who was charged with ensuring that the states would create new constitutions and ratify the * Southern Homestead Act of 1866 *

Naturalization Act of 1870 The Naturalization Act of 1870 () was a United States federal law that created a system of controls for the naturalization process and penalties for fraudulent practices. It is also noted for extending the naturalization process to "aliens of A ...

– Allowed persons of African descent to become citizens of the United States *

Enforcement Act of 1870 The Enforcement Act of 1870, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870 or First Ku Klux Klan Act, or Force Act (41st Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 114, , enacted May 31, 1870, effective 1871) was a United States federal law that empowered the President ...

– enacted 31 May 1870, empowered the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

to enforce the 15th Amendment * Enforcement Act of 1871 – enacted February 1871 * Enforcement Act of 1871 Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Force Act. It was the third enforcement act passed by

. The act gave the President the power to suspend the

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

to combat the Ku Klux Klan and other white terrorist organizations during the Reconstruction Era. * Amnesty Act (1872) - removed voting and office-holding restrictions from former supporters of the Confederacy and Confederate Army veterans. * Civil Rights Act of 1875 - mandated equal treatment in

public accommodations In United States law, public accommodations are generally defined as facilities, whether publicly or privately owned, that are used by the public at large. Examples include retail stores, rental establishments, and service establishments as well ...

and

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

, and prohibited exclusion from

jury service Jury duty or jury service is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. Juror selection process The prosecutor and defense can dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which can vary from one state to another, and they can have a specifi ...

. *

Posse Comitatus Act The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (, original at ) signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes which limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic p ...

(1878) - limited the authority of the federal government to use the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

to enforce

domestic policy Domestic policy is a type of public policy overseeing administrative decisions that are directly related to all issues and activity within a state's borders. It differs from foreign policy, which refers to the ways a government advances its inter ...

. Ended the

military occupation Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

of the former Confederacy and the Reconstruction Era. *

Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or s ...

(1890) – Required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate

land-grant institution A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

for persons of color. Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's

historically black colleges and universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

Racial Integrity Act of 1924 In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Racial Integrity Act. The act reinforced racial segregation by prohibiting interracial marriage and classifying as "white" a person "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasia ...

- prohibited

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 1 ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and codified the "

one-drop rule The one-drop rule is a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry ("one drop" of "black blood")Davis, F. James. Frontlin" ...

." * Civil Rights Act of 1957 - Established the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...

. *

Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 () is a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. It dealt primarily wi ...

- Established federal oversight of

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The r ...

. * Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Guaranteed equal voter registration requirements and prohibited discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and education. *

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 () authorized the formation of local Community Action Agencies as part of the War on Poverty. These agencies are directly regulated by the federal government. "It is the purpose of The Economic Opportunity Ac ...

- Part of President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

War on Poverty The war on poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national ...

initiative. * Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Guaranteed voting rights for

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

and abolished restrictive measures such as literacy tests. * Civil Rights Act of 1968 - Prohibited discrimination in housing. *The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 - gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) authority to sue in federal courts when it finds reasonable cause to believe that there has been employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. *

Equal Credit Opportunity Act The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) is a United States law (codified at et seq.), enacted 28 October 1974, that makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction, on ...

(1974) - Prohibited discrimination by creditors against applicants on the basis of race with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction *

Community Reinvestment Act The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA, P.L. 95-128, 91 Stat. 1147, title VIII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to hel ...

(1977) - limited redlining * Civil Rights Act of 1982 - Established uniform procedures for the enforcement by the Federal Government of civil rights laws. *

Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, or Grove City Bill, is a United States legislative act that specifies that entities receiving federal funds must comply with civil rights legislation in all of their operations, not just in the program ...

- mandated that all recipients of federal funds must comply with civil rights * Civil Rights Act of 1991 - Provided right to

trial by jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

in employment discrimination lawsuits. *

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly referred to as the 1994 Crime Bill, the Clinton Crime Bill, or the Biden Crime Law, is an Act of Congress dealing with crime and law enforcement; it became law in 1994. It is t ...

(1995) - requires the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase penalties for hate crimes. * Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (2007) - allows criminal cases of violent crimes committed against African Americans before 1970 to be reopened *

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a landmark United States federal law, passed on October 22, 2009, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, as a rider to the National Defense Auth ...

(2009) - allows federal authorities, including the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

, to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. *

Emmett Till Antilynching Act The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is a landmark United States federal law which makes lynching a federal hate crime. The act amends the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and prior hate crime laws to define lynching a ...

(2022) - explicitly designates lynching as a federal crime. Named in honor of lynching victim Emmett Till.

U.S. Constitution

Constitutional Clauses

* Article I, Section 2, Clause 3: Declared that slaves be counted as three-fifths of a person in the U.S. Census for the apportionment of members to the U.S. House of Representatives. Reached as a

compromise To compromise is to make a deal between different parties where each party gives up part of their demand. In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving va ...

between the Northern free states and the Southern slave states. * Article I, Section 9, Clause 1: Prohibited Congress from prohibiting the international slave trade before the year 1808. * Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3: Mandated that runaway slaves must be extradited to their state of origin.

Ratified Amendments

* Thirteenth Amendment (1865) - abolished

Slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...

. * Fourteenth Amendment (1868) - extended

U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

to all natural-born residents, including

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

; guaranteed due process to all U.S. citizens; and temporarily barred former supporters of the Confederacy from holding public office. * Fifteenth Amendment (1870) - guaranteed

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

to all male U.S. citizens, including African-Americans. * Nineteenth Amendment (1920) - guaranteed

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, including to African-American women. * Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) - abolished the poll tax in federal elections.

Unratified or Proposed Amendments

Crittenden Compromise The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution, and thereby make it unconstitutional for future congresses to end slavery. It was introduced by United States Senator Jo ...

(1861) - Proposal to avert the

by amending the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

to explicitly legalize slavery in the American South and prohibit its abolition. Rejected by

and President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. *

Corwin Amendment The Corwin Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that was never adopted. It would shield "domestic institutions" of the states from the federal constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by ...

(1861) - proposed to prohibit the federal government and future constitutional amendments from interfering with the "domestic institutions" of individual states, implicitly including slavery. Endorsed and signed by President James Buchanan but not ratified before the Civil War

Federal court decisions

Decisions

*''

North Carolina v. Mann ''North Carolina v. Mann'', 13 N.C. 263 ( N.C. 1830) (or ''State v. Mann'', as it would have been identified within North Carolina), is a decision in which the Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled that slave owners had absolute authority over t ...

'' (1830) - Ruled that slaveholders had absolute authority over slaves, including to commit acts of violence against them. *''

Prigg v. Pennsylvania ''Prigg v. Pennsylvania'', 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 (1842), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 precluded a Pennsylvania state law that prohibited blacks from being taken out of the free s ...

'' (1842) - Overturned

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

state law prohibiting free blacks from being forcibly taken to the South and enslaved. *''

Dred Scott v. Sandford ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; th ...

'' (1857) - Effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise prohibiting slavery in the North and ruled that African-Americans were not U.S. citizens. *'' Slaughterhouse Cases'' (1873) - Limited enforcement of the

Privileges and Immunities Clause The Privileges and Immunities Clause ( U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, also known as the Comity Clause) prevents a state from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner. Additionally, a right of interstate ...

. *'' United States v. Cruikshank'' (1876) - Ruled that the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...

did not apply to

state governments A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

. *'' United States v. Reese'' (1876) - Narrowed interpretation of the Fifteenth Amendment. *''

Strauder v. West Virginia ''Strauder v. West Virginia'', 100 U.S. 303 (1880), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States about racial discrimination and United States constitutional criminal procedure. ''Strauder'' was the first instance where t ...

'' (1880) - Limited enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. *''

Plessy v. Ferguson ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in qualit ...

'' (1896) - Ruled

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

and

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

in the South to be constitutional under the " separate-but-equal" doctrine. *'' Williams v. Mississippi'' (1898) - Upheld voting restrictions in the 1890 Mississippi State Constitution. *'' Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education'' (1899) - Upheld ''de jure'' segregation in schools. *'' Guinn v. United States'' (1915) - Ruled certain

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

provisions in Southern states to be unconstitutional. *'' Nixon v. Herndon'' (1927) - Ruled all-white primary elections of the

Texas Democratic Party The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...

to be unconstitutional. *'' Nixon v. Condon'' (1932) - Ruled reformulated all-white primary elections of the

to be unconstitutional. *'' Powell v. Alabama'' (1932) - Reversed verdict for the Scottsboro Boys. First overturning of state

criminal conviction In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", w ...

for violation of criminal procedural provisions. *'' Grovey v. Townsend'' (1935) - Ruled reformulated all-white primary elections of the

to be unconstitutional. *''

Breedlove v. Suttles ''Breedlove v. Suttles'', 302 U.S. 277 (1937), is an overturned United States Supreme Court decision which upheld the constitutionality of requiring the payment of a poll tax in order to vote in state elections. Background At the relevant time, ...

'' (1937) - Upheld the poll tax. *'' Gaines v. Canada'' (1938) - Ruled that states providing public education must provide educational opportunities to blacks. *'' New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.'' (1938) - Ruled in favor of the right to boycott during an African-American boycott of

Safeway Inc. Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

over discriminatory hiring practices. *''

Lane v. Wilson ''Lane v. Wilson'', 307 U.S. 268 (1939), was a United States Supreme Court case that found a 12-day one-time voter registration window to be discriminatory for black citizens and repugnant to the Fifteenth Amendment. Background In 1915, the Supre ...

'' (1939) - Overturned restrictive voter registration procedures of Oklahoma. *'' Chambers v. Florida'' (1940) - Ruled that confessions gained under police pressure violate the Due Process Clause. *''

Smith v. Allwright ''Smith v. Allwright'', 321 U.S. 649 (1944), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set thei ...

'' (1944) - Decisively prohibited all-white primary elections. *'' Shelley v. Kraemer'' (1948) - Overturned housing covenants prohibiting occupation by ethnic minorities. *'' McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents'' (overturned low court decision by same name) (1950) - ruled against segregation at

public universities A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...

. *'' Sweatt v. Painter'' (1950) - challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine. *''

Henderson v. United States (1950) ''Henderson v. United States'', 339 U.S. 816 (1950), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States that abolished segregation in railroad dining cars with an 8-0 ruling. The decision On May 17, 1 ...

'' - abolished segregation in dining cars. *''Brown v. Board of Education'' - composed of four cases arising from states and a related federal case arising from the District of Columbia overturning segregation in schools and the separate-but-equal doctrine. **''

Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County ''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County'' (Docket number: Civ. A. No. 1333; Case citation: 103 F. Supp. 337 (1952)) was one of the five cases combined into '' Brown v. Board of Education'', the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme ...

'' (1951) - the case arising from

**''

Briggs v. Elliott ''Briggs v. Elliott'', 342 U.S. 350 (1952), on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, challenged school segregation in Summerton, South Carolina. It was the first of the five cases combined into ''Brown v. ...

'' (1952) - the case arising from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

**'' Gebhart v. Belton'' (1952) - the case arising from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

**''

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' (1954) - the case arising from Kansas **'' Bolling v. Sharpe'' (1954) - a related case arising from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

*'' Lucy v. Adams'' (1955) - desegregated the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

*''

Keys v. Carolina Coach Co. ''Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company'', 64 MCC 769 (1955) is a landmark civil rights case in the United States in which the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to a bus segregation complaint filed in 1953 by a Women's Army Corps (WAC) p ...

'' - ruled that the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 prohibited segregation on interstate buses *'' NAACP v. Alabama'' (1958) - Barred the

State of Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

from subpoenaing NAACP records and membership rolls. *''

Gomillion v. Lightfoot ''Gomillion v. Lightfoot'', 364 U.S. 339 (1960), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise African Americans violated the Fifteenth Amendment. Bac ...

'' (1960) - ruled that the creation of electoral districts in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

was

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. *''

Boynton v. Virginia ''Boynton v. Virginia'', 364 U.S. 454 (1960), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court.. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whit ...

'' (1960) - ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal under the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. *''

Baker v. Carr ''Baker v. Carr'', 369 U.S. 186 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that redistricting qualifies as a justiciable question under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus enabling federal courts to hear Fourteen ...

'' (1962) - ruled that redistricting was a justiciabile question in federal court. *''

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States ''Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States'', 379 U.S. 241 (1964), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the Commerce Clause gave the U.S. Congress power to force private businesses to abide by Title ...

'' (1964) - upheld

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requir ...

under the

Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...

. *''

McLaughlin v. Florida ''McLaughlin v. Florida'', 379 U.S. 184 (1964), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a cohabitation law of Florida, part of the state's anti-miscegenation laws, was unconstitutional. The law prohibited habitu ...

'' (1964) - overturned

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's ban on interracial

cohabitation Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increas ...

. *'' New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'' (1964) - ruled that the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

protections on freedom of speech restricted defamation lawsuits to cases of "

actual malice Actual malice in United States law is a legal requirement imposed upon public officials or public figures when they file suit for libel (defamatory printed communications). Compared to other individuals who are less well known to the general pub ...

." Originated with a lawsuit against ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' for a full-page aid criticizing the Montgomery Police Department for mistreating civil rights protesters. *'' Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections'' (1966) - abolished the poll tax in state elections. *'' South Carolina v. Katzenbach'' (1966) *'' Loving v. Virginia'' (1967) - ruled anti-miscegenation laws to be unconstitutional *'' Jones v. Mayer'' (1968) - Held that Congress could regulate the sale of private property in order to prevent racial discrimination, upholding the Fair Housing Act of 1968 *''

Green v. School Board of New Kent County ''Green v. County School Board of New Kent County'', 391 U.S. 430 (1968), was an important Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving school desegregation. Specifically, the Court dealt with the Freedom of Choic ...

'' (1968) - ruled against Freedom of Choice plans in desegregating schools. *'' Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education'' (1971) - upheld

desegregation busing Race-integration busing in the United States (also known simply as busing, Integrated busing or by its critics as forced busing) was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in ...

*'' Gates v. Collier'' (1974) - abolished the trusty system and ended inmate abuse at Mississippi State Penitentiary, a prison notorious for its incarceration of civil rights activists *'' Milliken v. Bradley'' (1974) - ruled that school districts were not responsible for desegregation across district lines *''

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ''Regents of the University of California v. Bakke'', 438 U.S. 265 (1978) involved a dispute of whether preferential treatment for minorities can reduce educational opportunities for whites without violating the Constitution. The case was a la ...

'' (1978) - overturned affirmative action programs using

quotas Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...

. *'' Harris v. Harvey'' (1979) - held that public defamation motivated by racial prejudice is not protected by

judicial immunity Judicial immunity is a form of sovereign immunity, which protects judges and others employed by the judiciary from liability resulting from their judicial actions. Though judges have immunity from lawsuit, in constitutional democracies judicial m ...

*'' Batson v. Kentucky'' (1986) - held that prosecutors may not use

peremptory challenge In American and Australian law, the right of peremptory challenge is a right in jury selection for the attorneys to reject a certain number of potential jurors without stating a reason. Other potential jurors may be challenged for cause, i.e. by ...

s to expel jurors based on race. *'' McCleskey v. Kemp'' (1987) - ruled that a scientific study demonstrating that the death penalty had a racially-disproportionate impact could not mitigate a death sentence *''

Shaw v. Reno ''Shaw v. Reno'', 509 U.S. 630 (1993), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in the area of redistricting and racial gerrymandering. After the 1990 census, North Carolina qualified to have a 12th district and drew it in a distinct snak ...

'' (1993) - ruled that redistricting must be held to strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause *'' Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña'' (1995) - ruled that affirmative action imposed by the federal government must pass strict scrutiny *'' Grutter v. Bollinger'' (2003) - upheld affirmative action in

college admissions University admission or college admission is the process through which students enter tertiary education at universities and colleges. Systems vary widely from country to country, and sometimes from institution to institution. In many countries, ...

. *'' Shelby County v. Holder'' (2013) - overturned Sections 4(b) and 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, limiting the law's enforcement. *''

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action ''Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action'', 572 U.S. 291 (2014), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning affirmative action and race- and sex-based discrimination in public university admissions. ...

'' (2014) - held that Proposal 2, an amendment to the

Constitution of Michigan The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. There have been four constitutions approved by the people of Michigan. The fi ...

prohibiting affirmative action does not violate the Equal Protection Clause

Executive Orders and Proclamations

* Emancipation Proclamation (1862) - Issued by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

. It declared that all slaves in

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

territory still in rebellion were freed. *

Executive Order 8802 Executive Order 8802 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941, to prohibit ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry. It also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee. It was the first federal ac ...

(1942) - Issued by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. It banned racial discrimination in government departments and defense industries. It also established

Fair Employment Practice Committee The Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) was created in 1941 in the United States to implement Executive Order 8802 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt "banning discriminatory employment practices by Federal agencies and all unions and com ...

directed to oversee compliance with the order. * Executive Order 9908 (1946) * Executive Order 9980 (1948) *

Executive Order 9981 Executive Order 9981 was issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, and led to the re-integra ...

(1948) - Issued by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. It desegregated the

. * Executive Order 10577 (1954) * Executive Order 10590 (1955) - Issued by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. It established the President's Committee on Government Employment Policy. It aimed to eliminate discrimination in federal hiring. *

Executive Order 10925 Executive Order 10925, signed by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961, required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to the ...

(1961) - Issued by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. It established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, which later became the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

, and requires equal opportunity in placement and promotion in the U.S. military. *

Executive Order 11063 Executive Order 11063 was signed by President John F. Kennedy on November 20, 1962. This Order "prohibits discrimination in the sale, leasing, rental, or other disposition of properties and facilities owned or operated by the federal government or ...

(1962) - Issued by President

. It banned segregation in federally funded housing. * Executive Order 11114 (1963) * Executive Order 11246 (1965) - Issued by President

. It prohibited discrimination in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. * Executive Order 11478 (1969) - Issued by President Richard M. Nixon. It prohibited discrimination on certain grounds in the competitive service of the federal civilian workforce, including the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

and civilian employees of the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

Federal bureaucracy

(June 1865 through December 1868) *

(1941) *

President's Committee on Civil Rights The President's Committee on Civil Rights was a United States presidential commission established by President Harry Truman in 1946. The committee was created by Executive Order 9808 on December 5, 1946, and instructed to investigate the status o ...

(December 1946 through December 1947) *

Civil Rights Commission The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...

(created 1957) * Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice (created 1957) *

(created 1964) * Head Start (created 1965) * National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (created 1967) *

Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) is an agency within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. FHEO is responsible for administering and enforcing federal fair housing laws and establishing policies th ...

(created 1968) *

Minority Business Development Agency The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes growth and competitiveness of the United States' minority-owned businesses, including Hispanic and Latino American, Asian Pa ...

(1969) *

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. OFCCP is responsible for ensuring that employers doing business with the Federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondis ...

(1977) *

Office of Minority Health The Office of Minority Health (OMH) is an American federal agency created in 1986. It is one of the most significant outcomes of the 1985 Secretary's Task Force ''Report on Black and Minority Health'', also known as the "Heckler Report". The Heckl ...

in the

Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

(1986) *

Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

in the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Important Organizations and Individuals

* Free African Union Society *

Free African Society The Free African Society, founded in 1787, was a benevolent organization that held religious services and provided mutual aid for "free Africans and their descendants" in Philadelphia. The Society was founded by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. It ...

* American Anti-Slavery Society *

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

Colored Conventions Movement The Colored Conventions Movement, or Black Conventions Movement, was a series of national, regional, and state conventions held irregularly during the decades preceding and following the American Civil War. The delegates who attended these convent ...

National Negro Business League The National Negro Business League (NNBL) was an American organization founded in Boston in 1900 by Booker T. Washington to promote the interests of African-American businesses. The mission and main goal of the National Negro Business League wa ...

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

National Council of Negro Women The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...

Universal Negro Improvement Association The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-Africa ...

* The Communist Party USA and African-Americans *

Civil Rights Congress The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was a United States civil rights organization, formed in 1946 at a national conference for radicals and disbanded in 1956. It succeeded the International Labor Defense, the National Federation for Constitutional Li ...

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce B ...

* Southern Conference Educational Fund *

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civ ...

Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...

* Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee *

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), also referred to as the Freedom Democratic Party, was an American political party created in 1964 as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in the state of Mississippi during the ...

Council of Federated Organizations The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi. COFO was formed in 1961 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the sta ...

* Black Panther Party * Nation of Islam *

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (The Leadership Conference), formerly called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups. Organizational history The Leadership Co ...

Black Lives Matter movement Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landmark African-American legislation African-American history History of African-American civil rights United States federal civil rights legislation African American-related lists United States law-related lists Lists of United States legislation