BLACK HISTORY IN LAW

Code of Urukagina (2380 BC)

Urukagina was a king who ruled in ancient Sumer from 2360-2380 BC. He instituted some reforms of the
governing methodology and created one of the earliest systems of laws that we have a record of. Problems
of the time included: regulating the exchange of money for goods and services, collecting taxes, slavery,
theft, divorce, and maintaining the canals that supplied water. The code of laws and social reforms that
Urukagina established have been called the first bill of rights in history. At the time, they were
inscribed onto cones which were driven into the foundations of new temples. These cones are now known
as liberty cones and are considered to be the first historical documentation of the concept of individual
liberty.
Code of Ur-Nammu (2100 BCE)
The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu includes laws relating to slaves, written circa 2100 2050 BCE; it is
the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. The Code of Ur-Nammu divided society
into two classes: free people and slaves. Slaves usually worked as servants but also as craftsmen. They
were owned by their masters, but their legal status was relatively free. They could give evidence in court,
get married and own possessions. The code also dealt with the punishment of perpetrators of bodily harm
and sexual offences, and regulated soldiers' relationships with first and second wives.
Code of Lipit-Ishtar (1934-1924 BC)
The first half of the Lipit-Ishtar Code has never been found and remains a mystery but the rest presents a
fascinating legal code, a looking-glass, riveting glimpse into the daily life of early human societies and
civilization, governing the use of boats, real estate transactions (especially orchards), a system of slavery,
peerage, inheritance, marriage and the regulation of cattle (oxen).
The Laws of Eshnunna (1800 BC)
This collection of laws is not a real systemized codex; nearly sixty of its sections are preserved. The Laws
are written in Akkadian and consist of two tablets which are marked with A and B. The Laws clearly
show signs of social stratification, mainly focusing on two different classes: the mukenum and awilum.
The audience of the Laws of Eshnunna is more extensive than in the case of the earlier cuneiform
codifications: awilum free men and women (mar awilim and marat awilim), mukenum, wife (aatum),
son (maru), slaves of both sexes male (wardum) and female (amtum) which are not only objects of
law as in classical slavery, and delicts where the victims were slaves have been sanctioned, and other
class designations as ubarum, aparum, mudum that are not ascertained.
Code of Hammurabi (1772 BC)
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back
to about 1772 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth
Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and
various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth" as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man.
The Code contemplates the whole population as falling into three classes: the amelu, the mushkenu and
the ardu. The amelu was originally a patrician, a man from an elite family, possessed of full civil rights,
whose birth, marriage and death were registered. He had aristocratic privileges and responsibilities, and
the right to exact retaliation for corporal injuries, but was liable to a heavier punishment for crimes and
misdemeanors, higher fees and fines. To this class belonged the king and court, the higher officials, the
professions and craftsmen. Over time, the term became a mere courtesy titlealready in the Code, when

status is not concerned, it is used to denote anyone. There was no property qualification, nor does the term
appear to be racial.
It is most difficult to characterize the mushkenu exactly. The term in time came to mean "a beggar", and
that meaning has passed through Aramaic and Hebrew into many modern languages; but though the Code
does not regard him as necessarily poor, he may have been landless. He was free but had to accept
monetary compensation for corporal injuries, paid smaller fees and fines, and even paid less offerings to
the gods. He inhabited a separate quarter of the city. There is no reason to regard him as specially
connected with the court, as a royal pensioner, nor as forming the bulk of the population.
The ardu was a slave, his master's chattel, and formed a very numerous class. He could acquire property
and even own other slaves. His master clothed and fed him and paid his doctor's fees, but took all
compensation paid for injury done to him. His master usually found him a slave girl for a wife (the
children were then born slaves), often set him up in a house (with farm or business) and simply took an
annual rent of him. Otherwise, he might marry a free woman (the children were then free), who might
bring him a dower that his master could not touch, and at his death, one-half of his property passed to his
master as his heir. He could acquire his freedom by purchase from his master, or might be freed and
dedicated to a temple, or even adopted, when he became an amelu and not a mushkenu. Slaves were
recruited by purchase abroad, from captives taken in war, or by freemen degraded for debt or crime. To
detain or harbour a slave was punishable by death. So was aiding him to escape the city gates. A slave
bore an identification mark, removable only by a surgical operation, that later consisted of his owner's
name tattooed or branded on the arm.
Ancient Egypt (3150 - 332 BC)
The head of the legal system was officially the pharaoh, who was responsible for enacting laws,
delivering justice, and maintaining law and order, a concept the ancient Egyptians referred to as Ma'at.
Although no legal codes from ancient Egypt survive, court documents show that Egyptian law was
based on a common-sense view of right and wrong that emphasized reaching agreements and resolving
conflicts rather than strictly adhering to a complicated set of statutes. Local councils of elders, known as
Kenbet in the New Kingdom, were responsible for ruling in court cases involving small claims and minor
disputes. More serious cases involving murder, major land transactions, and tomb robbery were referred
to the Great Kenbet, over which the vizier or pharaoh presided. Plaintiffs and defendants were expected to
represent themselves and were required to swear an oath that they had told the truth. In some cases, the
state took on both the role of prosecutor and judge, and it could torture the accused with beatings to obtain
a confession and the names of any co-conspirators. Whether the charges were trivial or serious, court
scribes documented the complaint, testimony, and verdict of the case for future reference.
Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile,
depending on the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as murder and tomb robbery were punished
by execution, carried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the criminal on a stake. Punishment
could also be extended to the criminal's family. Beginning in the New Kingdom, oracles played a major
role in the legal system, dispensing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure was to ask the
god a "yes" or "no" question concerning the right or wrong of an issue. The god, carried by a number of
priests, rendered judgment by choosing one or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to one
of the answers written on a piece of papyrus or an ostracon.
Slaves were mainly obtained through prisoners of war. Other ways people could become slaves was by
inheriting the status from their parents. One could also become a slave on account of his inability to pay
his debts. Slavery was the direct result of poverty. People also sold themselves into slavery because they
were poor peasants and needed food and shelter. The lives of slaves were normally better than that of
peasants. Slaves only attempted escape when their treatment was unusually harsh. For many, being a
slave in Egypt made them better off than a freeman elsewhere. Slaves had rights to protect them. Young

slaves could not be put to hard work, and had to be brought up by the mistress of the household. Not all
slaves went to houses. Some also sold themselves to temples, or were assigned to temples by the king.
Slave trading was not very popular until later in Ancient Egypt. Afterwards, slave trades sprang up all
over Egypt. However, there was barely any worldwide trade. Rather, individual dealers seem to have
approached their customers personally. Only slaves with special traits were traded worldwide. Prices of
slaves changed with time. Slaves with a special skill were more valuable than those without one. Slaves
had plenty of jobs that they could be assigned to. Some had domestic jobs, like taking care of children,
cooking, brewing, or cleaning. Some were gardeners of field hands in stables. They could be craftsmen or
even get a higher status, for example, if they could write, they could become a manager of the masters
estate. Captive slaves were mostly assigned to the temples or king, and they had to do manual labor. The
worst thing that could happen to a slave was being assigned to the quarries and mines. Private ownership
of slaves, captured in war and given by the king to their captor, certainly occurred at the beginning of the
Eighteenth Dynasty (15501295 BCE). Sales of slaves occurred in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (732656
BCE), and contracts of servitude survive from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (c. 672 525 BCE) and from the
reign of Darius: apparently such a contract then required the consent of the slave.
Ancient Greece (800 BC - 500 AD)
No systematic collection of Greek laws has come down to us. Our knowledge of some of the earliest
notions of the subject is derived from the Homeric poems. For the details of Attic law we have to depend
on ex parte statements in the speeches of the Attic orators, and we are sometimes able to check those
statements by the trustworthy, but often imperfect, aid of inscriptions. Incidental illustrations of the laws
of Athens may be found in the Laws of Plato, who deals with the theory of the subject without exercising
any influence on actual practice. The Laws of Plato are criticized in the Politics of Aristotle, who, besides
discussing laws in their relation to constitutions, reviews the work of certain early Greek lawgivers. The
treatise on the Constitution of Athens includes an account of the jurisdiction of the various public officials
and of the machinery of the law courts, and thus enables us to dispense with the second-hand testimony of
grammarians and scholiasts who derived their information from that treatise (see Constitution of Athens).
The works of Theophrastus On the Laws, which included a recapitulation of the laws of various barbaric
as well as Grecian states, are now represented by only a few fragments
Both the leading states of Greece - Sparta and Athens - depend entirely upon forced labour, though the
system in Sparta is more properly described as serfdom rather than slavery. The distinction is that the
helots of Sparta are a conquered people, living on their own hereditary land but forced to work it for their
Spartan masters. Their existence is a traditional rural one to which certain rights remain attached. The
slaves of Athens, by contrast, have no conventional rights. But their condition varies greatly according to
the work they do.
The most unfortunate Athenian slaves are the miners, who are driven often to the point of death by their
owners (the mines are state-owned but are leased to private managers). By contrast other categories of
slaves - particularly those owned directly by the state, such as the 300 Scythian archers who provide the
police force of Athens - can acquire a certain prestige. The majority of Athenian slaves are domestic
servants. Their fortune depends entirely on the relationship they develop with their owners. Often it is
close, with female slaves looking after the children or acting as concubines, or a male slave running the
household as a steward. No free Athenian works in a domestic capacity, for it is considered shameful to
be another man's servant. This inhibition applies equally to a subsidiary position in any form of business.
As a result male slaves in Athens do all work of a secretarial or managerial nature, for in these contexts
they are unmistakably somebody else's personal assistant. Such jobs include positions of influence in
fields such as banking and commerce.

Ancient Rome (449 BC - 529 AD)

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments spanning over a thousand
years of jurisprudence, from the 12 Tables (c. 449 BC), to the Corpus Juris Civilis (AD 529) ordered by
Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. The historical importance of Roman law is reflected by the continued
use of Latin legal terminology in legal systems influenced by it. Roman law thus served as a basis for
legal practice throughout Western continental Europe, as well as in most former colonies of these
European nations, including Latin America, and also in Ethiopia. English and North American common
law were influenced also by Roman law, notably in their Latinate legal glossary.
The same loophole, offered by the self-esteem of free citizens, provides even greater opportunities to
slaves in imperial Rome. The most privileged slaves are the secretarial staff of the emperor. But these are
the exception. In the two centuries before the beginning of the empire (the last two centuries BC) slaves
are employed by Romans more widely than ever before and probably with greater brutality. In the mines
they are whipped into continuing effort by overseers; in the fields they work in chain gangs; in the public
arenas they are forced to engage in terrifying combat as gladiators. There are several slave uprisings in
these two centuries, the most famous of them led by Spartacus.
Slaves in the Middle Ages (500 - 1400)
In the period after the collapse of the Roman empire in the west, slavery continues in the countries around
the Mediterranean. But the slaves are employed almost exclusively in households, offices and armies. The
gang slavery characteristic of large Roman estates does not reappear until the tobacco and cotton
plantations of colonial America (one notable exception is the salt mines of the Sahara). Nevertheless the
slave trade thrives, and the Mediterranean is a natural focal point. More than anywhere else, the
Mediterranean provides the geographical and economic environment to encourage a slave trade. Civilized
regions surround the central sea. To the north and south stretch vast areas populated by relatively
unsophisticated tribes. Border warfare results in tribal captives being enslaved. In addition to this, market
forces encourage the tribes to seize prisoners of their own to service a developing slave trade.
During the eastward expansion of the Germans in the 10th century so many Slavs are captured that
their racial name becomes the generic term for a 'slave'. At the same period the delivery of slaves to
the Black Sea region is an important part of the early economy of Russia.
South of the Mediterranean, the dynasties of Arabs along the coast stimulate an African slave trade. The
town of Zawila develops in the Sahara in about700 specifically as a trading station for slaves. Captured in
the region around Lake Chad, they are sold to Arab households in a Muslim world which by the 8th
century stretches from Spain to Persia. Slavery is an accepted part of life in Arabia during the time of
Muhammad, in the 7th century, and the Qur'an offers no arguments against the practice. It merely states,
particularly in relation to female slaves, that they must be well treated. In general that has been the case,
compared with the barbaric treatment of slaves in some Christian communities.
The Christian Gospels make no specific mention of slavery, though slaves may be expected to benefit
from the general bias in favour of the poor and the oppressed. During the early Middle Ages the
missionaries and bishops of the Roman Catholic church argue against the ownership of slaves in the
emerging dynasties of northern Europe. At first they make little headway. But gradually slavery
disappears in western European countries - largely replaced by the serfdom of the feudal manor.
The Portuguese Slave Trade (1441 - 1640)
The Portuguese expeditions of the 15th century bring European ships for the first time into regular contact
with sub-Saharan Africa. This region has long been the source of slaves for the route through the Sahara
to the Mediterranean. The arrival of the Portuguese opens up another channel.

Nature even provides a new collection point for this human cargo. The volcanic Cape Verde Islands, with
their rocky and forbidding coastlines, are uninhabited. But they contain lush tropical valleys. And they are
well placed on the sea routes between West Africa, Europe and America. Portuguese settlers move into
the Cape Verde islands in about 1460. In 1466 they are given an economic advantage which guarantees
their prosperity. They are granted a monopoly of a new slave trade. On the coast of Guinea the Portuguese
are now setting up trading stations to buy captive Africans. Some of these slaves are used to work the
settlers' estates in the Cape Verde islands. Others are sent north for sale in Madeira, or in Portugal and
Spain - where Seville now becomes an important market. Africans have been imported by this sea route
into Europe since at least 1444, when one of Henry the Navigator's expeditions returns with slaves
exchanged for Moorish prisoners.
The labour of the slaves in the Cape Verde Islands primes a profitable trade with the African region which
becomes known as Portuguese Guinea or the Slave Coast. The slaves work in the Cape Verde plantations,
growing cotton and indigo in the fertile valleys. They are also employed in weaving and dying factories,
where these commodities are transformed into cloth. The cloth is exchanged in Guinea for slaves. And
the slaves are sold for cash to the slaving ships which pay regular visits to the Cape Verde Islands.
This African trade, together with the prosperity of the Cape Verde Islands, expands greatly with the
development of labour-intensive plantations growing sugar, cotton and tobacco in the Caribbean and
America. The Portuguese enforce a monopoly of the transport of African slaves to their own colony of
Brazil. But other nations with transatlantic interests soon become the main visitors to the Slave Coast.
First Slaves in US (1619)
Although they knew about Spanish and Portuguese slave trading, the British did not conceive of using
slave labor in the Americas until the 17th century. British travelers were fascinated by the dark-skinned
people they found in West Africa, and sought to create mythologies that situated these new human beings
in their view of the cosmos.
The first Africans to arrive in England came voluntarily with John Lok (an ancestor of the famous
philosopher John Locke) in 1555. Lok intended to teach them English in order to facilitate trading of
material goods. This model gave way to a slave trade initiated by John Hawkins, who captured 300
Africans and sold them to the Spanish. Blacks in England were subordinate but did not have the legal
status of chattel slaves. In 1607, England established Jamestown as its first permanent colony on the
North American continent. Tobacco became the chief crop of the colony, due to the efforts of John Rolfe
in 1611. Once it became clear that tobacco was going to drive the Jamestown colony, more labor was
needed. The British aristocracy needed to find a labor force to work on its plantations in the Americas.
The major possibilities were indentured servants from Britain, native Americans, and West Africans.
Towards indigenous Americans, the English entertained two lines of thought simultaneously. Because
these people were lighter skinned, they were seen as more European and therefore as candidates for
civilization. At the same time, because they were occupying the land desired by the colonial powers, they
were from the beginning, targets of a potential military campaign.
At first, indentured servants were used as the needed labor. These servants provided up to seven years of
service in exchange for having their trip to Jamestown paid for by someone in Jamestown. Once the seven
years was over, the indentured servant was free to live in Jamestown as a regular citizen. However,
colonists began to see indentured servants as too costly, and in 1619, Dutch traders brought the first
African slaves to Jamestown.

Triangular Slave Trade (1700)

The triangular trade has an economic elegance most attractive to the owners of the slave ships. Each of
the three separate journeys making up an expedition is profitable in its own right, with only the 'middle
voyage' across the Atlantic involving slaves as cargo.
Ships depart from Liverpool or Bristol with items in demand in west Africa - these include firearms,
alcohol (particularly rum), cotton goods, metal trinkets and beads. The goods are eagerly awaited by
traders in ports around the Gulf of Guinea. These traders have slaves on offer, captured in the African
interior and now awaiting transport to America. With the first exchange of merchandise completed, the
slaves are packed into the vessels in appalling conditions for the Atlantic crossing. They are crammed
below decks, shackled, badly fed and terrified. It is estimated that as many as twelve million Africans are
embarked on this journey during the course of the Atlantic slave trade, and that one in six dies before
reaching the West Indies - where the main slave markets on the American side of the ocean are located.
Great Law of Peace (1720)
The Iroquois (native americans) nations' political confederacy and democratic government under the
Great Law of Peace have been credited as influences on the Articles of Confederation and the United
States Constitution. In October 1988, the U.S. Congress passed Concurrent Resolution 331 to recognize
the influence of the Iroquois Constitution upon the American Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Action of Second Continental Congress. The unanimous declaration of the 13 united States of America.
Part of the Declaration reads "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of HappinessThat to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed....(in part).
U.S. Constitution (1789)
Seven original articles:
Article One
Establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the Congress. The Congress is a bicameral
legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate. The Supreme Court has interpreted the
Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One to allow Congress to enact
legislation that is neither expressly listed in the enumerated power nor expressly denied in the limitations
on Congress.
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 among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Courts and
commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of commerce as a separate power granted
to Congress.
Article Two
Creates the executive branch of the government, consisting of the President, the Vice President, and other
executive officers and staffers appointed by the President, including the Cabinet. Pursuant to Article Two,
the executive power of the federal government is vested in the President.
Article Three
Establishes the judicial branch of the federal government. The judicial branch comprises the Supreme
Court of the United States and lower courts as created by Congress.

Article Four
Outlines the relationship between each state and the others, as well as between the several States and the
federal government.
Article Five
Describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered. Altering the Constitution consists of
proposing an amendment or amendments and subsequent ratification.
Article Six
Establishes the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance with it as the supreme law of the
land, forbids a religious test as a requirement for holding a governmental position and holds the United
States under the Constitution responsible for debts incurred by the United States under the Articles of
Confederation.
Article Seven
Sets the number of state ratifications necessary in order for the Constitution to take effect and prescribes
the method through which the states may ratify it.
Several distinction made between free persons and "other persons" which are as follows:

"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be
included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of
Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons".
[slave wealth producing ability]

"No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or
Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be
due".

The Fugitive Slave Clause, also called the Fugitives From Labor Clause is the provision in Article
Four of the United States Constitution, Section 2, Clause 3, that required a slave who flees to
another state to be returned to the owner in the state from which they escaped.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

An Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution
guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave.
The Slave Trade Act of 1794
Law passed by the United States Congress that limited American involvement in the trade of human
cargo, that is, U.S. citizen could not build a ship for purposes of and/or be involved with shipping slaves
from U.S. to any other country.
Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807
A US federal law that stated that no new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States. This
Act ended the legality of the U.S.-based transatlantic slave trade. However, it was not always well
enforced, and slavery itself continued in the US until the end of the Civil War.
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
The Act required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that
officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law.

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

Supreme Court held that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves (or
their descendants, whether or not they were slaves) were not protected by the Constitution and could
never be U.S. citizens. The court also held that the U.S. Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in
federal territories and that, because slaves were not citizens, they could not sue in court. Furthermore, the
Court ruled that slaves, as chattels or private property, could not be taken away from their owners without
due process.
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
The was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war
measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the
Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States. The proclamation was for
freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3 million of the 4 million
slaves in the U.S. at the time. The Proclamation was based on the president's constitutional authority as
commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. The Proclamation also
ordered that suitable persons among those freed could be enrolled into the paid service of United States'
forces, and ordered the Union Army (and all segments of the Executive branch) to "recognize and
maintain the freedom of" the ex-slaves. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself
outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves (called freedmen) citizens. It made the eradication of
slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union. One of the definitions of the
word "emancipate" is to transfer ownership or transfer property.
13th Amendment (1865)
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Civil Rights Act (1866)
First federal law to define US citizenship and granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white
citizens to all male persons in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous
condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." The rights granted are to make and enforce contracts, to
sue, be parties, and give evidence, inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal
property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property,
as is enjoyed by white citizens.
14th Amendment (1868)
14th amendment, among other things, gave all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they
reside...(in part). Note that the word "citizens" is not capitalized in the 14th Amendment but the word is
capitalized in the Consitution because it referred to citizen of a State or one of the 13 'States' of the Union.
There is a question as to whether the 14th amendment was properly ratified. According to the article in
Alabama law journal (http://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2053/Issue%202/Bryant.pdf) not
properly ratified. Also, 'natural rights' are not mentioned in the 14th amendment but is mentioned in the
Constitution. So, the amendments did not provide for natural rights.

This Amendment transferred the rights of the 'slave' from individual slave owner to the Federal
Government.
U.S. v. Anthony (1873)
The term resident and citizen of the United States is distinguished from a Citizen of one of the several
states, in that the former is a special class of citizen CREATED by Congress. Even if 14th amendment
properly ratified, blacks would come under this definition of citizen unless not subject to jurisdiction. A
Citiizen of a State, under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution is a citizen of the Union
(States). A citizen of the United States, under Section 1, Clause 1 of the 14th Amendment, is a citizen of
the District of Columbia, and the territories and possessions of the United States, as well as the federal
enclaves within the several States.
Civil Rights Act (1875)
This Act sometimes called Enforcement Act or Force Act, guaranteed African Americans equal treatment
in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service. The
Supreme Court decided the act was unconstitutional in 1883.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring restaurants, hotels, hospitals,
and other public places to serve African Americans in separate, but ostensibly equal, accommodations. In
establishing the separate but equal" doctrine, the Court said that segregation is "universally recognized as
within the competency of states in the exercise of their police powers."
Civil Rights Act (1964)
This Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal
application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by
facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations").
Title I
Barred unequal application of voter registration requirements.
Title II
Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants,
theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs
without defining the term "private".
Title III
Prohibited state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race,
color, religion or national origin.
Title IV
Encouraged the desegregation of public schools and authorized the U.S. Attorney General to file suits to
enforce said act.
Title V
Expanded the Civil Rights Commission established by the earlier Civil Rights Act of 1957 with additional
powers, rules and procedures.
Title VI
Prevents discrimination by government agencies that receive federal funds. If an agency is found in
violation of Title VI, that agency may lose its federal funding.

Title VII
This Title, codified as Subchapter VI of Chapter 21 of title 42 of the United States Code, prohibits
discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin (see 42
U.S.C. 2000e-2). Title VII applies to and covers an employer "who has fifteen (15) or more employees
for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year"
as written in the Definitions section under 42 U.S.C. 2000e(b). Title VII also prohibits discrimination
against an individual because of his or her association with another individual of a particular race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin, such as by an interracial marriage. Title VII has been supplemented with
legislation prohibiting pregnancy, age, and disability discrimination.
Title VIII
Required compilation of voter-registration and voting data in geographic areas specified by the
Commission on Civil Rights. Also includes the Fair Housing Act, which is a law that stops discrimination
in sale or rental of property.
Title IX
Title IX made it easier to move civil rights cases from state courts with segregationist judges and allwhite juries to federal court. This was of crucial importance to civil rights activists who could not get a
fair trial in state courts. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not be confused with Title IX of
the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education
programs and activities.
Title X
Established the Community Relations Service, tasked with assisting in community disputes involving
claims of discrimination.
Title XI
Title XI gives a defendant accused of certain categories of criminal contempt in a matter arising under
title II, III, IV, V, VI, or VII of the Act the right to a jury trial. If convicted, the defendant can be fined an
amount not to exceed $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than six months.
Civil rights include those rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments), the 13th and 14th
Amendments to the Constitution.
Heart of Atlanta Motel Inc. v. US (1964)
A Supreme Court case holding that the U.S. Congress could use the power granted to it by the
Constitution's commerce clause to force private businesses to abide by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Having observed that 75% of the Heart of Atlanta Motel's clientele came from out-of-state, and that it was
strategically located near Interstates 75 and 85 as well as two major Georgia highways, the Court found
that the business clearly affected interstate commerce. So, the basis (in part) of the Civil Rights Act(s)
is found in the obstruction of interstate commerce due to lack of black folks spending money at
various establishments/businesses.
Voting Rights Act (1965)
This Act prohibits discrimination in voting. The Act establishes extensive federal oversight over
elections. Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, Section 2 of the Act generally prohibits any state
or local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or
language minorities. Additionally, the Act specifically outlaws literacy tests and similar devices that were
historically used to disfranchise racial minorities. According to the U.S. Department of Justice website,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 will expire in the 2031. The bill, and more specifically the sections that put

forth who is covered, originally expired in 1982. The provisions received a 25-year extension and another
extension in 2006.
The Act also contains "special provisions" that apply to only certain jurisdictions. A core special
provision is the Section 5 preclearance requirement, which prohibits certain jurisdictions from
implementing any change affecting voting without first obtaining approval from the U.S. Attorney
General or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected
minorities. Another special provision requires jurisdictions containing significant language minority
populations to provide bilingual ballots and other election materials.
Section 5 and most other special provisions apply to jurisdictions encompassed by the "coverage formula"
prescribed in Section 4(b). The coverage formula was originally designed to encompass jurisdictions that
engaged in the most egregious voting discrimination in 1965, and Congress updated the formula in 1970
and 1975. However, in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the
coverage formula as unconstitutional, reasoning that it was no longer responsive to current conditions.
The Court did not strike down Section 5, but without Section 4(b), no jurisdiction may be subject to
Section 5 preclearance unless Congress enacts a new coverage formula.