Immigration...Mexican: Moving to the Cities - For Teachers (Library of Congress)

1868		The 14th Amendment to the Constitution endows African American with citizenship.

1870		The 15th Amendment of the Constitution provides African-American males with the right to vote.

1885

Congress bans the admission of contract laborers.

1896		Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court ruling that “separate but equal” accommodations for African Americans and whites were Constitutional; decision allows legalized segregation.

1929

Congress makes annual immigration quotas permanent.

1941

President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802: forbids discrimination in federal hiring, job-training programs, and defense industries.

1948

The United States admits persons fleeing persecution in their native lands; allowing 205,000 refugees to enter within two years.

1952		Immigration and Nationality Act: individuals of all races eligible for naturalization; reaffirms national origins quota system, limits immigration from Eastern Hemisphere; establishes preferences for skilled workers and relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens; and tightens security and screening standards and procedures

1953		Congress amends 1948 refugee policy to allow for the admission of 200,000 more refugees

1954

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education: Supreme Court rules that “separate but equal” educational facilities were unconstitutional.

1964

The Civil Rights Acts ensures voting rights; prohibits housing discrimination.

1980

The Refugee Act redefines criteria and procedures for admitting refugees.

1986

Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) legalizes illegal aliens residing in the U.S. unlawfully since 1982

1808

Congress bans the importation of slaves but slavery in the United States continues to grow.

1819		Congress establishes reporting on immigration.

1820		The Compromise of 1820 admits Maine and Missouri into the Union as a free and a slave state, respectively. This legislation also prohibited slavery in territories north of Missouri.

1861		Abraham Lincoln takes the presidential oath of office; Southern Confederacy ratifies a new Constitution, elects Jefferson Davis as first Confederate president; Civil War begins.

1862		The Union Army permits black men to enlist as laborers, cooks, teamsters, and servants.

1863		The Emancipation Proclamation abolishes slavery, permits African American men to join the Union Army.

1864		Congress legalizes the importation of contract laborers.