 Naturalization Act of 1870 |
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The 1870 Naturalization Act extended paths to United States citizenship for people of African descent while excluding Chinese immigrants.
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| Nebraska Abortion Statute (1873) |
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The Nebraska state statute regarding abortion reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law in the nineteenth century. This lengthy law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| Nebraska Abortion Statute (1929) |
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This Nebraska state statute regarding abortion reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law before Roe v. Wade. This law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative (2008) |
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This amendment to the Nebraska Constitution banned the use of affirmative action in the "operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." It was initiated as a ballot measure that was approved in 2008.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1881) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1929) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Negroes and Mulattoes (1851) |
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Part of the Black Codes passed by Northwest Ordinance states prior to Reconstruction, this article in the Indiana Constitution is an example of the way "free" states ensured white supremacy.
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| New Jersey Constitutional Franchise Provision (1776) |
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This provision of the first New Jersey Constitution did not limit franchise by race or gender, allowing unmarried women and free people of color who could meet the property requirement to vote. When New Jersey rewrote its constitution in 1844, it explicitly denied women and African Americans the right to vote.
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| New Jersey Disfranchisement Statute (1807) |
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This New Jersey statute explicitly banned women and free people from color from voting, after these groups had been enfranchised since 1776. When New Jersey rewrote its constitution in 1844, it explicitly denied women and African Americans the right to vote.
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| New Jersey Franchise Statute (1797) |
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This New Jersey statute explicitly added women to their voting laws, while also allowing free people of color to vote. When New Jersey rewrote its constitution in 1844, it explicitly denied women and African Americans the right to vote.
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| New York Charter of Liberties and Privileges (1683) |
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The New York Charter of Liberties and Privileges established the political organization of the colony of New York, set up election procedures, and guaranteed certain rights to colonists. This document created a democratic colony with the right to vote for the General Assembly given to "every freeholder within this province and freeman in any corporation." Extra protection is granted to Christians, although the document allows for religious freedom given practice does not "disturb the peace of the colony."
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| Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a president "is entitled to absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts."
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| Noem v. Abrego Garcia (2025) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court agreed with a lower court's order for the government to "facilitate and effectuate" the return to the U.S. of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia who had been deported to El Salvador and detained in the Center for Terrorism Confinement.
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| Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo (2025) |
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The Supreme Court's decision in this case allows federal agents to continuing using factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, spoken language or accent, presence at a specific location, and type of employment in conducting stops and making arrests.
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| Northwest Ordinance (1787) |
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The Northwest Ordinance had important legal and political implications during the Early Republic. A key feature of the legislation was the recognition of tribal sovereignty and legal jurisdiction.
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 Notice to Republican Voters of the 9th Congressional District of Virginia (1902) |
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This broadside publicized information about new voting laws and poll taxes in Virginia.
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| Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) |
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In the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court found that same-sex marriage was protected under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
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| Of Colored Persons (1871) |
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This act passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflects the race-neutral language of the legal code after the Civil War. Application of these statutes resulted in entrenched Jim Crow segregation.
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| Of Masters and Apprentices (1887) |
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Acts passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflected race-neutral language of the legal code after the Civil War. Application of these statutes resulted in entrenched Jim Crow segregation.
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| Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery (1924) |
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The introduction of Zitkala-Ša's groundbreaking report opened the scene on fraud facilitated by guardians, lawmakers, and county clerks at the expense of minors, heirs, and incompetents during early Oklahoma statehood, and focused on probate courts as a site of legal exploitation.
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| Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) |
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In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, the court ruled that Native American tribes had no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The ruling was later overturned by the Indian Civil Rights Act and the ruling in Duro v. Reina that stated tribes had criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians. The case of Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians also held that tribes had jurisdiction over non-Indians.
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| Omaha Grapples with its Ugly Past (2019) |
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This article looks at the legacy of the lynching of Will Brown, featuring interviews with prominent, Black Omaha community members Preston Love and Ernie Chambers, as well as University of Nebraska-Omaha Urban studies professor, Barbara Hewins-Maroney.
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 Omaha's Riot in Story & Pictures (1919) |
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This series of photographs document the race riot in Omaha that culminated in the lynching of Will Brown in front of the Douglas County Courthouse. In the first, as many as 20,000 people gather outside an already damaged courthouse. In the second, white rioters smile around the remains of the police car they set ablaze. And in the third, federal troops guard the intersection of 24th and Lake streets, an area with a large number of Black homes and businesses.
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| Opinion of Chief Justice Hornblower on the Fugitive Slave Law (1836) |
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Justice Hornblower’s opinion in the State v. Sheriff of Burlington County called into question the authority of the Fugitive Slave Act. The opinion calls into question discrepancies between the federal law and state statute. This opinion is over the case of the Helmsley family. Alexander Helmsley and his wife, Nancy, were a free black couple living in New Jersey. Someone accused them of being fugitive slaves. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, the family should have been sent back to their former enslaver; however, New Jersey’s Personal Liberty Law protected them from being extradited from the state. Hornblower’s opinion advocated for following the state personal liberty law over following the federal law.
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| Opinion of Judge Hays on Slavery in California (1856) |
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In the decision in this case, a California judge ruled that Biddy Mason and her three children, as well as a woman named Hannah and her nine children and grandchildren, were "free forever" after their enslaver brought them into the free state of California to reside. The judge's opinion was published in the official newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
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