Judgment in Plessy v. Ferguson, the case that established “separate but equal,” 1896
Supreme Court of the United States. 2/2/1790View Full Item in National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual ReferenceDuring the era of Reconstruction, black Americans' political rights were affirmed by three constitutional amendments and numerous laws passed by Congress. Racial discrimination was attacked on a parti…
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 banning discrimination in the government and armed forces, 1941
Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945View Full Item in National Archives at College Park - Still PicturesCharts recording the votes of United States Supreme Court justices in civil rights cases, 1946-1947
View Full Item in Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst LibrariesTwo charts discussing civil rights court cases; taken from an article by John P. Frank, titled "The United States Supreme Court," from a 1947 issue of "University of Chicago Law Review."
Draft of W.E.B. Du Bois’s speech to the National Lawyers Guild on the United States before and after the 14th Amendment, 1947
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963View Full Item in Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst LibrariesTyped draft of speech for the National Lawyers Guild on the historical atmosphere in the United States before and after the 14th Amendment was adopted.
1948 document outlining legal strategy to further civil rights from the papers of W. E. B. Du Bois
View Full Item in Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst LibrariesConcerning the necessity of laws to provide for equal rights for all, despite race, color, creed, national origin, or political beliefs.
Executive Order 9981 in which President Harry S. Truman bans the segregation of the Armed Forces, July 26, 1948
National Archives and Records Administration. Office of the Federal Register. 4/1/1985View Full Item in National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual ReferencePhotograph of Heman Marion Sweatt registering at the University of Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor in Sweatt v. Painter, 1950
Douglass, NealView Full Item in Austin History Center, Austin Public LibraryPhotograph of Heman Sweatt standing in line amongst several Caucasian men at the Registration Office at the University of Texas at Austin. 1 photograph : negative, b&w ; 5 x 4 in.
Document on civil rights legislation describing the history and effects of Senate Rule 22, the cloture rule, 1952
Progressive Party (U.S. : 1948)View Full Item in Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst LibrariesDescribing the background, history, and effects of Senate Rule 22, and outlining "the way out," to essentially "organize delegations to all Senators at once, before the new Senate convenes."
Motion filed on behalf of James Meredith in his suit against the University of Mississippi, 1961
Marshall, Burke, 1922-2003View Full Item in John F. Kennedy LibraryThis item is a copy of a motion filed on behalf of James Meredith against the University of Mississippi.
Photograph of Senator Warren G. Magnuson speaking with Robert F. Kennedy at Commerce Committee hearings on the Civil Rights Act, 1963
View Full Image in University of WashingtonPrinted on verso: Discuss Civil Rights Legislation -- U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy (right) discusses provisions of the proposed Civil Rights Act of 1963 with Senator Warren Magnuson, chairman…
Memorandum from Robert F. Kennedy to President Kennedy on the status of the Civil Rights bill in Congress, 1963
President (1961-1963 : Kennedy). Office of the Personal Secretary. 1961-1963View Full Item in John F. Kennedy LibraryThis item is a memorandum from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to President John F. Kennedy regarding proposed civil rights legislation. The memo contains handwritten notations by the President and…
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
United StatesCongress (88th, 2nd session : 1964), Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.)View Full Item in Northeastern University LibraryDocuments from the lawsuit filed against Neshoba County, Mississippi officials about the death of civil rights workers Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman in 1964
Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial EqualityView Full Item in Wisconsin Historical SocietyThe legal case brought by COFO, relatives of two murdered civil rights workers, and others against the sheriff and deputy sheriff of Neshoba County, Mississippi--where the men were killed--and other M…
Proceedings from lower court hearing on Ollie McClung’s restaurant discrimination case, which became Katzenback v. McClung in the U.S. Supreme Court, 1964
U.S. District Court for the Southern (Birmingham) Division of the Northern District of Alabama. 1/1/1885?View Full Item in National Archives at AtlantaThis document consists of the proceedings from the case, which was heard by a three judge panel: Judges Walter P. Gewin (5th Circuit Court of Appeals), Seybourn H. Lynne and H. Hobart Grooms (Northern…
Opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Miranda v. Arizona written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, 1966
Supreme Court of the United States. 2/2/1790View Full Item in National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual ReferenceU.S. Supreme Court document about Loving v. Virginia (1967), in which the court invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage
Supreme Court of the United States. 2/2/1790View Full Item in National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual ReferenceFair housing 1968: an interpretation of Title VIII (Fair Housing) of the Civil Rights Act of 1968
View Full Item in University of CaliforniaJuly 1968.
Statement of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on civil rights enforcement in education, 1983
United States Commission on Civil RightsView Full Item in University of Michigan"June 1983." Title from cover.
Oral history transcript of an interview with Cecil Poole about civil rights, law, and the federal courts
Poole, Cecil F., 1914-1997, IntervieweeView Full Item in UC Berkeley, Bancroft LibraryChildhood and education; military service; private law practice in San Francisco; Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Northern District, California, 1951-58; Legal Secretary to California Governor Edmun…
Interview with Judge William Steele Sessions about legal struggles during the civil rights movement
Cobbs, RebeccaView Full Item in St. Andrew's Episcopal SchoolOral history interview with Judge William Steele Sessions by St. Andrew's Episcopal School student Rebecca Cobbs. In this interview, the Honorable Sessions shows how the legal system enhanced the Civi…
