CIVIL RIGHTS: A Chronology
1619: A year before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, the first 20 African slaves are sold to
settlers in Virginia as "indentured servants." In 1624 the first African American child, William Tucker is
born in the colony.
1789: Constitution adopted; slaves counted as three-fifths of a person for means of apportioning
representation in Congress.
1831: Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Virginia.
1838: Some 18,000 Cherokees forcibly removed from their land and forced to resettle west of the
Mississippi in a trek that becomes known as "the Trail of Tears."
1848: First Women's Rights Convention meeting in Seneca Falls, N.Y., hears Elizabeth Cady Stanton
propose a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo cedes Arizona, Texas, California, New Mexico, Colorado and parts of Utah
and Nevada to the United States for $15 million. Article IX guarantees people of Mexican origin "the
enjoyment of all the rights of the citizens of the United States according to the principles of the
constitution."
1856: In early instance of gerrymandering, Democratic party bosses in Los Angeles call special convention
to consider splitting country in two to increase Anglo political influence.
1857: In the Dred Scott decision, Scott, a slave who had lived in a free territory, sues for his freedom on
the grounds his residence on free soil liberates him. The Supreme Court, citing historical and conventional
views of African Americans, rules against him, saying African American people are regarded as "so far
inferior...that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The court also declares that
slaves were not citizens and had no rights to sue, and that slaveowners could take their slaves anywhere
and still retain title to them.
1861: The Civil War begins.
1863: Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1.
1865: Civil War ends. Lincoln assassinated on April 15. Freedman's Bureau is established to help former
slaves. Ku Klux Klan organized in Pulaski, Tennessee. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is
ratified stating that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist" in the United States.
1867: Some 2,000 Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad strike for better pay. "Chinese Mary" is
burned to death for her gold by whites in Helena, Montana.
1868: The Fourteenth Amendment, making African Americans full citizens of the United States and
prohibiting states from denying them equal protection or due process of law, is ratified. Congress reports
that 373 freed slaves have been killed by whites.
1869: Knights of Labor formed "to uphold the dignity of labor."
1870: The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified, guaranteeing the right to vote will not be denied or abridged
on account of race. At the same time, however, the first segregation, or "Jim Crow," law is passed in
Tennessee mandating the separation of African Americans from whites on trains, in depots and wharves.
In short order, the rest of the South falls into step. By the end of the century, African Americans are
banned from white hotels, barber shops, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations. By
1885, most southern states also have laws requiring separate schools.
In Wyoming, Mrs. Louisa Swain becomes first woman to cast a legal ballot in the nation. The Rev. Hiram
R. Revels (R-MISS) and Joseph H. Rainey (R-S.C.) become first African Americans to sit in Congress.
Union Pacific announces it will hire Chinese laborers at $32.50 a month rather than pay whites $52.
1873: The first community welfare organizations, or "mutualistas" spring up In the Southwest. Primarily
social organizations, they also provide decent burials for poor Chicanos and assist in dealing with abusive
police or politicians.
1875: Congress passes the first Civil Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans equal rights in
transportation, restaurant/inns, theaters and on juries. The law is struck down by the Supreme Court in
1883, as the majority holds that the Constitution allows Congress to act only against governmental
discrimination and not that by private citizens.
1876: Sioux and Cheyenne Indians win Battle of Little Big Horn, where General George Custer is killed.
The battle is an outgrowth of continued U.S. violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty as white settlers
flock to the sacred Black Hills seeking gold.
1877: With the election of Rutherford B. Hayes as President, Reconstruction is brought to an end and
most federal troops are withdrawn from the South while those remaining do nothing to protect the rights
of African Americans. The return of "home rule" to the former secessionist states also means the
restoration of white supremacy and the disenfranchisement and segregation of African Americans.
First national strike occurs, aimed at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and is marked by violence; 19
workers are killed by police and troops in Chicago, nine in Baltimore.
Chief Joseph, the revered leader of the Nez Perce tribe surrenders to federal troops and states: "From
where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
1882: Over the veto of President Chester Arthur, Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act restricting
the immigration of all Chinese laborers for 10 years and requiring Chinese to carry identification cards.
1888: Congress passes the Scott Act, prohibiting resident Chinese laborers who leave the United States
from returning unless they have family in the country.
1890: In the Battle of Wounded Knee, U.S. troops kill 200 Dakota Indian men, women, and children in the
last conflict of the so-called "Indian Wars."
In Mississippi, a state constitutional convention meets to write a suffrage amendment, including a poll tax
and a literacy test designed - successfully -- to exclude African Americans from voting. South Carolina
follows suit in 1895, Louisiana in 1898. By 1910, African Americans are effectively barred from voting by
constitutional provisions in North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, and Oklahoma as well.
The Woman Suffrage Amendment is introduced in Congress for the first time but defeated.
Treaty with China allows unrestricted immigration of Chines into the country, primarily as laborers on
railroads in the West
1892: Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting further Chinese immigration into the United
States for ten years.
1896: The Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, rules that state laws requiring separation of the races
are within the bounds of the Constitution as long as ostensibly equal accommodations are made for
African Americans, thus upholding the "separate but equal" doctrine used to justify legal segregation in
the South. Justice John Harlan, in lone dissent, says Constitution is "colorblind and neither knows nor
tolerates classes among citizens."
1900: Lynching has become increasingly commonplace as a means for intimidating African Americans.
Between 1886 and 1900, there are more than 2,500 lynchings in the nation, the vast majority in the Deep
South. In the first year of the new century, more than 100 African Americans are lynched, and by World
War I, more than 1100.
1910: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded by W.E.B Du
Bois, Jane Addams, John Dewey, and others.
The Mexican Revolution brings an influx of immigrants to the United States looking for work.
1912: The Mexican ambassador formally protests the mistreatment of Mexicans in the United States,
citing a number of brutal lynchings and murders.
1916 Rep. Jeannette Rankin (R-Mont.) becomes first woman elected to Congress.
1917: The Jones Act grants full citizenship to Puerto Ricans and gives them the right to travel freely to the
continental United States. However, because Puerto Rico is not a state, Puerto Ricans, like citizens in the
District of Columbia, are represented in Congress by a delegate with only limited powers and are
unrepresented in the Senate.
1920: The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, providing women the right to vote.
1922: In Ozawa v. United States, the Supreme Court denies Japanese residents the right to naturalization
because they are "ineligible for citizenship," as are foreign-born Chinese. In Congress, the Cable Act
declares that "any woman citizen who marries an alien ineligible to citizenship, shall cease to be a citizen."
1924: After 10,000 Native American soldiers serve in World War I, Congress passes the Indian Citizenship
Act of 1924, granting American citizenship to Native Americans. Several Indian nations, including the Hopi
and the Iroquois, decline citizenship in favor of retaining sovereign nationhood.
The Immigration Act bars any "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from entering the United States.
1928: The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is founded to fight discrimination, help
educate Chicanos, and protest segregation, killings and other abuses.
1930: Continuing discrimination against Japanese in the United States leads to formation of the Japanese
American Citizenship League.
Mass numbers of Mexican workers are deported during the 1930s, large numbers of whom are U.S.
citizens. Over 400,000 are deported to Mexico; the deportees are accused of usurping "Americans" from
jobs during the Depression.
1939: African American contralto, Marian Anderson, barred by the Daughters of the American Revolution
from singing in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall, sings instead to a crowd of 75,000 people at Lincoln
Memorial.
The Legal Defense Fund established as the litigation arm of the NAACP. A year later the two become
separate organizations.
1941: President Roosevelt issues an executive order banning discrimination against minorities in defense
contracts.
1942: U.S. government "relocates" some 110,000 Japanese Americans in camps encircled by barbed wire.
Guards are ordered to shoot anyone seeking to leave.
The Bracero Program, created under a joint U.S.-Mexico agreement, permits Mexican nationals to work in
U.S. agricultural areas on a temporary basis and at wages lower than domestic workers.
1943: Congress, seeking to reward China for becoming an ally in the war against Germany and Japan,
repeals all previous Asian Exclusion Acts and establishes an annual quota of Chinese emigres to the United
States each year.
1947: Jackie Robinson becomes first African American to play major league baseball.
1948: Supreme Court, in Shelly v. Kramer, declares illegal the government enforcement of restrictive
covenants under which private parties could exclude minorities from buying homes in white
neighborhoods.
Democratic Party endorses civil rights platform, prompting Southern walkout and formation of States
Rights Democratic Party (better known as the Dixiecrats) who nominate Strom Thurmond as presidential
candidate.
1952: The Tuskegee Institute reports that, for the first time in the 71 years it has been keeping records,
there were no lynchings of African Americans during the year.
1954: In Brown v. Board of Education, the decision widely regarded as having sparked the modern civil
rights era, the Supreme Court rules deliberate public school segregation illegal, overturning the "separate
but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson. Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for a unanimous Court, notes
that to segregate children by race "generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community
that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone." Thurgood Marshall heads the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund team winning the ruling.
Hernandez v. Texas becomes the first Mexican American discrimination case to reach the Supreme Court.
The case involves a murder conviction by a jury that includes no Latinos. Chief Justice Earl Warren holds
that persons of Mexican descent are "persons of a distinct class" entitled to the equal protection of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
1955: On August 28, 14-year-old Emmett Till is beaten, shot, and lynched by whites in Mississippi.
In Alabama, on December 1, Rosa Parks refuses to up her bus seat to a white man, precipitating the
Montgomery bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr.
1956: Montgomery bus boycott ends in victory after the city announces it will comply with a November
Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation on buses illegal. Earlier in the year, King's home is bombed.
Autherine Lucy is first African American admitted to the University of Alabama.
1957: Efforts to integrate Little Rock's Central High School meet with legal resistance and violence;
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus predicts "blood will run in the streets" if African Americans push effort to
integrate. On Sept. 24, federal troops mobilize to protect the nine African American students at the high
school from white mobs trying to block the school's integration.
1959: Alaska and Hawaii are admitted as states. Hawaii, the 50th state, elects Hiram Fong (of Chinese
ancestry) and Daniel Inouye (of Japanese ancestry) to represent them in Congress, the first two Asian
Americans to serve in that body.
1960: On February 1, lunch counter sit-in by four college students in Greensboro, N.C. begins and spreads
through the South. On April 17, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded.
John F. Kennedy elected president.
1961: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organizes Freedom Rides into the South to test new Interstate
Commerce Commission regulations and court orders barring segregation in interstate transportation.
Riders are beaten by mobs in several places, including Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama.
1962: The United Farm Workers Union, under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, organizes to win bargaining
power for Mexican Americans.
James Meredith becomes first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi.
1963: June 20, President John F. Kennedy meets with civil rights leaders at the White House in an attempt
to call off the March on Washington scheduled for August.
Over a quarter of a million people participate in the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, and hear
Martin Luther King, Jr., deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech.
Medger Evers, NAACP field secretary in Jackson, Mississippi, is murdered on June 12, 1963. A Birmingham
church is bombed on September 15, killing four African American girls attending Sunday school: Denise
McNair, age 11, and Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Adie Mae Collins, all 14 years old.
1963: President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, his alleged assailant, Lee
Harvey Oswald, is also shot and killed. Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes president.
Martin Luther King Jr., receives the Nobel Peace Prize. The Twenty-fourth Amendment, ending the poll
tax, is ratified and becomes part of the Constitution.
Mississippi Freedom Summer, a voter education and registration project, begins. White northern college
students volunteer to run practice elections in preparation for the Presidential election of 1964. Two white
students, Andrew Goodman and Michael Scherner, and an African American civil rights worker, James
Chaney, are murdered.
The Bracero Program is terminated.
1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is enacted. Among its provisions are prohibitions on discrimination by
employers, programs receiving federal funding, and public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants,
and gas stations, and
1965: During the continuing voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama, Jimmie Lee Jackson, 26,
participating in a march led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is killed by Alabama state
troopers as he attempts to prevent the troopers from beating his mother and grandfather.
Shortly after the Selma to Montgomery march, the Voting Rights Act is signed into law on August 6,
effectively ending literacy tests and a host of other obstacles used to disenfranchise African American and
other minority citizens.
Malcolm X is assassinated.
The Watts section of Los Angeles erupts in five days of rioting after an African American woman is killed
by a fire truck driven by white men.
1966: National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded to fight politically for full equality between the
sexes.
1967: Sparked by a police raid on a location frequented by advocates of black power, Detroit erupts into
the worst race riots ever in the nation, with 43 people dead, including 33 African Americans and 10
whites. During the year, 164 other racial disturbances are reported across the country, including major
riots in Tampa, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Newark, Plainfield and Brunswick, New Jersey, which kill at least 83
people.
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American justice of the Supreme Court.
Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, is stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for resisting military
draft as a Muslim minister in the Nation of Islam.
Jose Angel Gutierrez founds the Mexican American Youth Organization in San Antonio, Texas. The group
would become over time La Rasa Unida Party, the first Chicano political party.
Articles of incorporation are filed in San Antonio for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the first national Chicano civil rights legal organization.
Congress enacts the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 prohibiting employment discrimination against older
Americans. The act is amended 12 years later to prohibit discrimination against older Americans by any
housing provider who receives federal funds.
1968: The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (popularly known as the Kerner Commission
after chairman Otto Kerner, Governor of Illinois) issues its report warning that the nation is moving
toward two separate societies -- one black and poor, the other affluent and white. The commission,
appointed by President Johnson following the 1967 disorders in Detroit and other communities, calls for
major anti-poverty efforts and strengthened civil rights enforcement.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is murdered on April 4. The assassination sparks unrest and civil disorders in 124
cities across the country, including the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. On April 11, as unrest continues,
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, aimed at curbing discrimination in housing.
Senator Robert Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president, is shot and killed in a
Los Angeles hotel on June 6.
Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) is the first African American woman elected to Congress.
American Indian Movement (AIM) founded in Minneapolis.
The Supreme Court, in Green v. County School Board of New Kent County (Virginia), rules that "actual
desegregation" of schools in the South is required, effectively ruling out so-called school "freedom of
choice" plans and requiring effective, timely action to achieve integrated schools.
1969: A June 27 police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village bar catering to homosexuals,
results in two nights of rioting and is the symbolic beginning of the gay rights movement. The event is
commemorated each year by Gay Pride demonstrations across the nation.
1971: The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a
legitimate and sometimes necessary tool to achieve school desegregation and integration.
1973: Congress passes Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which bars discrimination against persons
with disabilities by programs receiving federal funds.
A 71-day siege by a force of more than 1,000 FBI agents, U.S. Marshals, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
police and U.S. military advisers is ended on May 9 at the symbolically important hamlet of Wounded Knee
at Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota. The village was occupied by the American Indian Movement
(AIM) in an effort to spur talks with the U.S. government on violated treaty rights, BIA abuses on the
reservation and civil rights concerns of Native Americans. Federal agents surrounded the town, claiming
that the Indians were holding "hostages" from the white trading post in the hamlet and demanding the
surrender of all those occupying the village. During the siege, two AIM supporters are killed in firefights.
In Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado, the Supreme Court, for the first time, addresses the
issue of school desegregation in northern public schools, finding intentionally-imposed segregation
unconstitutional even when not accompanied by statute. The Court concludes that the Denver public
school system is an unlawful "dual system," that a system-wide remedy is required, and that assigning
African American students to Latino schools is not an adequate desegregation plan because both groups
had been subject to historic segregation.
The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association votes unanimously to strike from its
manuals the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness.
1974: In Lau v. Nichols, the Supreme Court rules that, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, school districts
are required to provide assistance to LEP (limited-English-proficient) students that ensure that they
receive the same opportunities as fluent English students.
1975: The American Medical Association calls for the repeal of all state laws barring homosexual acts
between consenting adults.
1977: First National Women's Conference, held in Houston, Texas calls for a host of reforms aimed at
empowering women and providing them with equal opportunity.
1978: In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court ruled that the medical
school's special admission program setting aside a fixed number of seats for minorities violated Title VI of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act. At the same time, however, in an opinion written by Justice Powell, it ruled that
race could lawfully be considered as one of several factors in making admissions decisions. In his opinion,
Justice Powell noted that lawful affirmative action programs may be based on reasons other than
redressing past discrimination -- in particular, a university's educational interest in attaining a diverse
student body could justify appropriate affirmative action programs.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is enacted, overturning an earlier Supreme Court decision to make clear
that discrimination against pregnant workers is an illegal form of discrimination under federal law.
1979: The first Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights March on Washington draws more than 100,000 people on
October 14.
1981: The first news reports of what will become the AIDS epidemic are published.
1982: The Equal Rights Amendment, which would have written a guarantee of equal rights for women into
the Constitution, falls three states short of ratification.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is extended and strengthened by Congress, barring laws that dilute the
voting power of minorities, regardless of whether such laws were motivated by discriminatory intent. The
amendment overturns the Supreme Court's decision in Bolden v. City of Mobile, that required proof of
intentional discrimination against minority voters in order to establish a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Wisconsin becomes the first state to adopt a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against gays and
lesbians.
1983: In Bob Jones University v. the United States, the Supreme Court, over the Reagan administration's
objections, upholds the Internal Revenue Service rule denying tax exemption to private schools that
engage in racial discrimination.
In a report, "Personal Justice Denied," the Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of
Civilian s concludes that the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II was not
justified by military necessity and that grave injustice had been done.
1986: The Supreme Court rules that states may constitutionally outlaw homosexual acts between
consenting adults in Bowers v. Hardwick.
A unanimous Supreme Court rules that sexual harassment is an illegal form of discrimination under
federal law.
1987: The Senate rejects President Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court after a
confirmation battle focusing largely on issues of civil rights and constitutional protections.
The AIDS quilt commemorating AIDS victims is displayed for the first time during the second march on
Washington for gay and lesbian rights, a demonstration drawing 200,000.
1988: Congress overrides President Reagan's veto to enact the Civil Rights Restoration Act to overturn the
1984 Supreme Court ruling in Grove City College v. Bell. The act restores the reach of Title IX and other
federal laws prohibiting discrimination by programs receiving federal funding.
In Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protection Association, the Supreme Court allows the construction
of a Forest Service road through an ancient site held sacred by several tribes. In a setback for Native
Americans' religious freedoms, the Court ruled that such intrusion did not violate the Indians' First
Amendment rights.
1989: The Supreme Court, in a series of rulings, severely restricts the reach of federal anti-discrimination
prohibiting job discrimination. The decisions immediately prompt congressional efforts to craft legislation
overturning them.
The Court's ruling in City of Richmond v. Croson invalidates Richmond, Virginia's local ordinance
establishing a minority business set-aside program. The Court, for the first time, adopts the strict scrutiny
standard of review in assessing affirmative action programs, demanding that such programs be supported
by a "compelling government interest" and narrowly tailored to ensure the program fits that interest.
While not rejecting all governmental race-conscious remedies, the Court sets a very high standard for
their continued use by state and local governments.
1990: Congress passes -- and President Bush signs -- the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, which
bans job discrimination on the basis of disability and requires businesses, public transportation, and other
public facilities to be made accessible to persons with disabilities.
1991: Thurgood Marshall, first African American appointed to Supreme Court, resigns for health reasons.
President Bush names Clarence Thomas to the post. The Thomas nomination brings to the fore the issue
of sexual harassment, as one of Thomas' former co-workers, law professor Anita Hill, charges that Thomas
sexually harassed her. Thomas denies accusations and, after televise hearings that rivet the nation, he is
confirmed, 52-48.
Shortly afterwards, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 is enacted, legislatively reversing the Court's 1989
decisions that narrowly interpreted job discrimination laws and providing, for the first time, money
damages for victims of intentional job discrimination to compensate them for their injuries and to deter
future employer wrongdoing.
In Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, the Supreme Court rules that states and localities no longer
had to show a "compelling governmental interest" to justify generally applicable laws that applied to limit
or infringe upon religious exercise. The ruling in this case, which involved two Oregon men who were
denied unemployment benefits after taking peyote as part of a worship ceremony of the Native American
Church, was widely attacked by representatives of virtually all religious bodies in the United States as a
major blow to religious freedom.
1992: The Voting Rights Act's bilingual provisions are extended to 2007.
1993: In Shaw v. Reno, a sharply divided Supreme Court calls into question legislative redistricting plans
that create districts likely to elect a member of a minority group. The Court rules 5-4 that North Carolina's
12th Congressional District, which gave the state its first African American member of Congress since
Reconstruction, was so "bizarrely shaped" that it could violate the rights of white voters. Such "bizarre"
districts, the majority suggests, could trigger strict scrutiny even though white voters could demonstrate
no specific harm to themselves. In other words, an individual white voter could challenge a redistricting
decision by simply alleging that race was a decisionmaking factor in drawing district lines -- even absent
evidence that the white plaintiffs' ability to participate had been impaired or that their votes had been
diluted.
After renewing his promise to end the military's ban on homosexuality, newly-elected President Clinton is
met by a storm of protest from both Congress and the military, especially the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the
end, he announces a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, under which potential recruits would not be asked their
sexual orientation, would have to keep that orientation private and not engage in any homosexual conduct
and would require the military to curtail its investigation of suspected homosexuals and lesbians. Gay men
or lesbians who let their identity be known or who act on their sexuality would still be discharged from the
Armed Forces.
The Supreme Court cuts back protections for older workers in Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggens, holding that an
adverse employment decision that is based on a factor other than age does not violate the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act -- even where the decisionmaking factor is motivated by a factor
correlated to age, such as years of service or pension status.
1994: Congress enacts legislation authorizing the Department of Justice to conduct investigations of and
bring suit against police departments alleged to be engaging in a pattern or practice of abusive use of
force or racial discrimination such as racial profiling.
1995: In Adarand Constructors v. Pena, the Supreme Court extends Croson to hold that strict scrutiny
also applies to federal affirmative action programs. Again, however, the Court refuses to reject properlydesigned affirmative action. As Justice O'Connor emphasizes: "The unhappy persistence of both the
practice and the lingering effects of racial discrimination against minorities in this country is an
unfortunate reality and government is not disqualified from acting in response to it."
1996: In Romer v. Evans, the Court strikes down as unconstitutional a Colorado state referendum that
would have overturned local laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination. The Court held that the
referendum was motivated by irrational bias against gays and lesbians and served no legitimate
government interest, thus violating basic federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
In California, controversial Proposition 209 is passed by a narrow margin in a state referendum.
Proposition 209 prohibits state affirmative action programs in employment, education, and government
contracting.
1998: Bragdon v. Abbott is the first ADA case to make its way to the Court, which holds, among other
things, that HIV-positive individuals are protected under the ADA.
In Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, the Court clarifies its earlier rulings
on sexual harassment, reaffirming that Title VII requires employers to ensure a workplace free from
sexual and other forms of discriminatory harassment.
Brutal hate crimes capture the nation's attention, including the dragging death of African American James
Byrd, Jr. in Texas, and the murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man in Wyoming.
1998 and 1999: In Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District and Davis v. Monroe County School
District, the Supreme Court makes clear that Title IX requires schools to take action to prevent and stop
the harassment of students by teachers or other students. Those decisions, however, also severely limit
the circumstances under which victims of such harassment may receive money damages for their injuries.
1999: The Court reaffirms in Olmstead v. L.C. that the ADA bars the unnecessary segregation of people
with disabilities in state institutions. As the Court noted, such segregation is often motivated by irrational
fears, stereotypes, and patronizing attitudes, and unfairly relegates individuals with disabilities to secondclass status.
The Court significantly limits the ADA's reach in a trio of cases (Sutton v. United Airlines, Murphy v. United
Parcel Service, and Albertson's v. Kirkingberg). The Court holds that any determination of whether an
individual has a disability triggering the ADA's protections must consider any mitigating measures taken to
control the effects of the individual's impairment, such as medication or therapy. Under this decision, for
example, an individual who controls the effects of depression through medication may be unable to claim
the ADA's protections when he or she suffers discrimination because of that depression.
Heinous hate crimes continue throughout the summer, including a series of shootings targeted at African
Americans, Asian Americans, and Jew in the Midwest, and the shooting of children at a Jewish child care
center in Los Angeles, followed by the murder of Filipino American postal worker Joseph Ileto.
2000: The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is enacted. Providing important
new protections for religious freedom without the potential for undermining state and local civil rights
laws, RLUIPA focuses on land use for churches, synagogues, and other religious groups, and religious
freedom of those in government-run institutions such as hospitals, prisons, and group homes.
The November 2000 elections raise yet a new set of concerns about minority voting rights as voters across
America -- especially minority voters -- report that they had been effectively denied the franchise in a
variety of ways. These included allegations that minority voters faced a significantly greater risk that their
votes would not be counted accurately, due to disproportionate use of outdated and inaccurate equipment
in minority neighborhoods. Asian American, Haitian American, Latino, and other language minority voters
report that they were denied language assistance to which they were entitled. These and other
irregularities trigger calls for federal election reform legislation to address both procedural and
technological barriers to voting participation.