 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution |
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The Twenty-Fourth Amendment prevents the use of poll taxes in elections. It was passed during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to actualize voting rights for people of all races guaranteed by the 15th Amendment.
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| Affirmative Action's Origins and Legacies |
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This teaching module provides an in-depth look at affirmative action, delving into its origins and tracing its impact to the present day, featuring a webinar with Nebraska Law faculty Eric Berger, Danielle Jefferis, and Catherine Wilson.
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| AHA–OAH Statement on Executive Order "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling" |
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This joint statement from the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians calls out the "politicization of history grounded in ahistorical thinking" mandated by Executive Order 14190. More than 30 other organizations have signed on to the statement.
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| An Act respecting slaves, free negroes and mulattoes |
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This Missouri law is one of the Black Codes designed to ensure white supremacy prior to the Civil War, limiting literacy and assembly for enslaved people as well as preventing interstate travel for free Black people.
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| An Act to Adopt the Negroes of the Chickasaw Nation |
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This tribal law, which was adopted by the Chickasaw Nation on January 10, 1873, called for the adoption of Chickasaw Freedmen as citizens of the Chickasaw Nation. The law included three primary stipulations for the adoption of Chickasaw Freedmen as tribal citizens: first, that Chickasaw Freedmen be excluded from any financial interests in the $300,000 the tribe would receive and any other tribal invested funds or claims; second, that despite these exclusions from monetary benefits, Chickasaw Freedmen be considered fully subject to the "jurisdiction and laws" of the Chickasaw Nation; and third, that the law would go into effect after being approved "by the proper authority of the United States." The law would not be approved by the U.S. Congress until 1894.
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| An Act to continue in force and to amend "An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees,'' and for other Purposes |
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This act of Congress extended the Freedmen's Bureau until 1868. The Freedmen's Bureau was established during Reconstruction to manage the affairs of the formerly enslaved and refugees from the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, but the veto was overridden by Congress.
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| An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees |
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This act of Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau in order to provide aid and support to the formerly-enslaved people across the South.
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| An Act to Prevent the Immigration of Free Negroes into this State |
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This Illinois law was prohibited African Americans from moving into the state. Part of the series of laws known as Black Codes, this law and others like it intended to ensure racial inequality prior to the Civil War. Black people who resided in the state for longer than ten days could face arrest, fines, and sale by auction. Any white citizen who reported their presence was given half of the fine paid by the Black person.
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| Angell Treaty |
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The Angell Treaty of 1880 amended the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 and sought to regulate, limit, and suspend the arrival of Chinese laborers to the United States. Article Three of the treaty established a clause stating that Chinese subjects experiencing violence and mistreatment on U.S. soil should be entitled to protection by the U.S. government.
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| Applegate v. Luke |
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After the Phillips County Chancery Court struck down Arkansas' Alien Land Act of 1925 as unconstitutional, Attorney General H. W. Applegate appealed the case to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Justice T. H. Humphreys upheld the lower court's ruling, arguing that the alien land law violated Section 20 of the the Declaration of Rights in the State Constitution.
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| Arkansas Alien Land Act |
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This act was passed by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1925 to restrict the ability of aliens ineligible for citizenship to acquire, possess, enjoy, use, cultivate, occupy, and transfer real property, or any interest therein," unless specified in treaties.
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| Articles of Peace and Amity |
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This treaty, signed between the English colony of Maryland and twelve Eastern Woodland Native American nations, stipulated the rights of Native peoples and their lands and established regulations for interactions between Native Americans and English colonists. The document reflects an already established relationship between the colonists and Native nations by 1666.
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| Asian Americans Confront U.S. Law and Policy: A Case Study of the Vietnamese Impact on Defining the "Refugee" |
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This teaching module looks at the role Vietnamese migrants played in creating the current status of refugees, featuring a webinar with Linda Ho Peché, project director for the Vietnamese in the Diaspora Digital Archive.
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| Asian Immigrants' Fight Against Discriminatory Alien Land Laws |
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This module examines the history of anti-Asian/Japanese alien land laws in the 1920s United States, focusing on one lawsuit by Chinese immigrant Lum Jung Luke that brought down Arkansas' Alien Land Act.
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| Brown v. Board of Education |
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The Supreme Court found in Brown v. Board of Education that educational segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This landmark case overturned the precedent created by the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, and ended the Jim Crow era.
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| Burlingame-Seward Treaty |
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In the wake of the Second Opium War (1865-60), United States Secretary of State William Seward and the U.S. Minister to China Anson Burlingame negotiated what became known as the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. The treaty established trade ports for the U.S. in China, opened Chinese consuls in the U.S., and permitted the free immigration and travel of Chinese immigrants to the United States under the "the most-favored nation principle."
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| Chain Gang Blues |
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Chain Gang Blues was a song recorded by blues singer Ma Rainey in 1925 that reflects the experience of Black Americans in the Jim Crow South. In the song, the protagonist has been sent on the chain gang for reasons that she thinks are unjust.
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| Civil Liberties Act |
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This act granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been removed from their homes and interred in camps by the government during World War II. It also made restitution to Native Americans in Alaska who were interred by both the Japanese and Americans.
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| Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 |
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This broadside detailed U. S. Army orders to force all persons of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or non-citizens, to depart Alameda County, California, and report to an assembly center where they would be sent to concentration camps. Fred Korematsu defied this exclusion order by remaining at his residence and was eventually convicted in federal court.
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| Clark v. Board of School Directors |
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In this case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of students based on race was unconstitutional. It was the first and only 19th century court to overturn school segregation.
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| Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co. |
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In this case, the Iowa Supreme Court held that a steamboat company's removal of a Black woman from its dining table violated her constitutional right of equality under Iowa's constitution, relying heavily on the Court's earlier decision in Clark v. Board of School Directors. This case came nearly 100 years before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States that upheld Title II of the newly passed Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in public accommodations.
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| Constitution of Oregon |
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Oregon became a state with a Black exclusion law in its constitution. Drafted in 1857 by delegates at a territorial convention, several sections of the constitution reflect Oregon voters' goal of creating a white-only state.
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| Dear Colleague Letter |
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This letter, sent to the departments of education in all 50 states, summarizes the Trump administration's position on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). While the letter does not carry the force of law, it states that any institutions of higher education who do not comply with the administration's interpretation of existing nondiscrimination requirements may lose federal funding.
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| Dow v. United States |
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In Dow v. United States, the Court of Appeals ruled that people from Southwest Asia could be considered white and were eligible for citizenship. This decision came seven years before the Supreme Court ruled that migrants from Japan and India were not white enough to be eligible for citizenship.
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| Enforcement Act of 1870 |
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The Enforcement Act of 1870 was enacted to enforce the 15th Amendment during Reconstruction. It explicitly prohibited the use of terror, force, or disguise to violate a voter's constitutional right. This law was intended to protect the voting rights of Black Americans and penalize state officials and violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan who interfered.
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