1792-1865 Kentucky Statehood through the Civil War Reconstruction 1863-1877 1877-1954 The Jim Crow Era The Civil Rights Movement 1954-1968 More Recent

1792-1865Kentucky Statehood through the Civil War

Reconstruction1863-1877

1877-1954The Jim Crow Era

The Civil Rights Movement

1954-1968

More Recent Events

Select a time period to explore significant events:

1792-1865Kentucky Statehood through the Civil War

1790 Ratification of the U. S. Constitution and slavery compromises

Kentucky’s 1st Constitution

protected slavery1792

1850 Kentucky’s 3rd

Constitution strengthened slavery protections

1857Dred Scott v Sanford

decision excludes African Americans

from citizenship

Berea College founded as fully integrated

1855

Slaves and free blacks fought in the Civil War

1861-1865Select an event to explore:

Return to the Main Timeline

The U. S. Constitution was ratified, with several compromises regarding slavery: Congress was prohibited from ending the Atlantic slave trade before 1808; free states were forbidden to grant freedom to fugitive slaves who crossed their borders; and slaves—who had no legal rights as persons—were each counted as three-fifths of a person in the census, thereby increasing the South’s representation in Congress. Other matters regarding slavery were left up to the individual states.

1790

National Archives

Return to this Time Period


Kentucky became the first state to protect slavery in its first Constitution. Article IX, which states that the Legislature cannot pass laws to emancipate slaves without the consent of their owners, was the most debated topic at the constitutional convention.

1792

Library of Congress



Protections for slavery were increased in the 1850 Kentucky Constitution.

1850

Kentucky Historical Society



Abolitionist Reverend John Fee founded Berea College in 1855, as the only non-segregated, co-educational college in the South. This photo shows Berea’s students in 1899.

1855

Library of Congress



The U. S. Supreme Court, in Dred Scott v Sanford, ruled that African Americans—slave or free—were not citizens of the United States, and therefore, were not entitled to rights under the Constitution.

1857



The Civil War—At the start of the war, there were more than 225,000 slaves in Kentucky. More than 23,000 Kentucky men of African descent joined the Union Army as United States Colored Troops.

1861-1865



1863-1877Reconstruction

1863The Emancipation Proclamation

freed slaves

The 13th Amendment

abolished slavery1865

1870The 15th

Amendment granted voting right

s

1866The Civil Rights Act provided equal protection of the laws

The 14th

Amendment reinforced equal protecti

on of the laws

1868

1868-1871Blyew v United States challenged the Civil Rights Act

Louisville streetcar protests and lawsuit1870-1871

1875A new Civil Rights Act expanded rights

United States v Reese challenged the 15th Amendment

1873-1876

Select an event to explore:


With the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln freed slaves in the states in rebellion with the United States. The measure did not affect slaves in Kentucky, since the Commonwealth remained loyal to the Union.

1863

Library of Congress



Slavery was abolished in all states by the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

1865

Library of Congress



The federal Civil Rights Act conferred citizenship upon black males born in America and extended to them the rights “to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property.”

1866

U.S. Capitol



The Fourteenth Amendment provided constitutional reinforcement of the Civil Rights Act, granting citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.”

1868



In one of the first full cases to challenge the Civil Rights Act, Blyew v United States, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal protections under the Act didn’t apply to the black members of a Kentucky family who witnessed the ax murders of four relatives by two white men. The case was returned to Kentucky courts, where it was illegal for a black witness to testify against a white person.

1868-1871



Robert Fox led a non-violent protest on an all-white Louisville streetcar in 1870, and then sued the railroad for arresting him. The U. S. District Court ruled in Fox’s favor, saying the railway’s refusal to serve blacks violated the 14th Amendment and common-law provisions. As a result of this ruling and the ongoing protests organized by Quinn Chapel AME Church, Louisville did not enact Jim Crow ordinances for streetcars—a landmark victory in the South, 85 years before Rosa Parks.

1870-1871



The Fifteenth Amendment declared that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged…on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

1870



A Kentucky case was the first to test voting rights under the 15th Amendment. In United States v Reese, the U. S. Supreme Court considered whether it was unconstitutional for a Lexington election inspector to refuse to allow African American William Garner to pay his poll tax and vote. The Court ruled that the 15th Amendment “does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one,” and that Congress had not yet provided the appropriate legislation to enforce the law. As a result, many state and local governments began to implement poll taxes, literacy tests, and other methods to suppress the black vote.

1873-1876



In an effort to guarantee African Americans’ rights under the 14th Amendment—including equality in public accommodations and transportation and the right to serve on juries—Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

1875



1877-1954The Jim Crow Era

1880Two court cases addressed blacks on juries

1896Plessy v Ferguson established “separate but equal”

Court case opened the door to legalized segregation1883

Kentucky’s separate coach law was upheld1900

1904 The Day Law segregated Kentucky schools

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s Day Law1908

1916-1917Louisville’s residential segregation ordinance ruled unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that courts cannot enforce restrictive covenants

1948

1950Kentucky’s Day Law was amended to allow voluntary integration of colleges



The U. S. Supreme Court, in Strauder v West Virginia, ruled that it was unconstitutional to exclude blacks on juries due to their race.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals, in Commonwealth v Johnson, ruled that the Kentucky statute that excluded citizens of African descent from grand and petit juries because of their race was unconstitutional.

1880



The U. S. Supreme Court decided that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional because the federal government lacked the power to prohibit discrimination by private individuals. This ruling opened the door to legalized segregation.

1883

Library of Congress



In Plessy v Ferguson, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities, under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” U. S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, a Kentuckian, was the lone dissenter.

1896

Library of Congress

Click here to read from Justice Harlan’s dissent



Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

--U. S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, Plessy v. Ferguson dissenting opinion, 1896



In Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company v Kentucky, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s separate coach law, requiring railway companies to furnish separate cars for white and black passengers.

1900

John McCutheon Cartoon



Kentucky enacted the Day Law, to end Berea College’s mission to fully integrate black and white students. The law prohibited students of color from attending the same school as white students and required that black schools be located at least 25 miles from whites-only schools.

1904



In Berea College v Kentucky, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s Day Law, allowing states to prohibit interracial instruction in private and public schools. U. S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, a Kentuckian, was the lone dissenter.

1908


Return to this Time Period Library of Congress

In Buchanan v Warley, the U. S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Louisville’s residential segregation ordinance, prohibiting the sale of property to African Americans, violated the 14th Amendment. After this victory, more African Americans won their cases before the Supreme Court. As another consequence, blacks became increasingly able to move to places where they would have voting rights and greater political power.

1916-1917



The U. S. Supreme Court, in Shelley v Kraemer, ruled that the courts cannot enforce restrictive covenants that bar people from occupying real estate based on their race.

1948



Kentucky’s Day Law was amended to allow voluntary integration at Kentucky colleges.

1950



1954-1968The Civil Rights Movement

1954A Kentucky case expanded “separate is

not equal”

Brown v Board ruled racial segregation of schools unconstitutional1954

1957The Civil Rights Act strengthened social justice statutes

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination

1964

The Voting Rights Act outlawed discrimination in voting

1965

1967Loving v Virginia

ended race-based restrictions on marriage

Four Kentucky cities passed open housing laws1967

1968Kentucky passed the first statewide open housing law in the South


1964The 24th Amendment

eliminated the poll tax

Kentucky passed a bill to enforce the Civil Rights Act1966


Federal rights to education were advanced when the U. S. Supreme Court ruled, in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, KS, that separate public schools for blacks and whites were “inherently unequal” and therefore unconstitutional.

1954



Immediately after the Brown v. Board decision, the U. S. Supreme Court decided to take another look at the Kentucky racial segregation case, Muir v Louisville Park Theatrical Association, a first step toward applying “separate is not equal” to recreation facilities, not just schools.

1954



The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created a commission to strengthen social justice statutes and protect voting rights. The act was the first federal civil rights legislation in eight decades.

1957



The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It protected voting rights and ended racial segregation in schools, workplaces, and public accommodations.

1964



The Twenty-Fourth Amendment was passed, eliminating the poll tax, which was often used to discourage blacks from voting.

1964

Library of Congress



The Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices, resulting in a dramatic increase in African American voters and elected officials.

1965



Kentucky Governor Edward T. Breathitt signed a state law to establish enforcement powers over the federal Civil Rights Act. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called it “the strongest and most comprehensive civil rights bill passed by a southern state.”

1966

The Kentucky Office of Public Information



The U. S. Supreme Court case, Loving v Virginia, ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

1967



African American activists in Louisville organized a series of demonstrations and united to help elect a new Board of Aldermen. As a result of these community efforts, Louisville became the first major city in the South to pass an open housing law. Bardstown, Covington, and Lexington also passed local laws in advance of the state law.

1967



The Kentucky Fair Housing Act was the first statewide open housing law in the South, providing equal housing opportunities for all persons, regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin.

1968



More Recent Events

1976Kentucky finally ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

Batson v Kentucky ruled that jurors cannot be excluded based on race alone1986

1996Language requiring school

segregation was finally removed from Kentucky’s

Constitution



Kentucky formally ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. It had been the only state to reject all three amendments more than a century before. (The ex-Confederate states were required to approve them, in order to be readmitted to the Union; but since Kentucky had remained loyal to the Union, it was not required to do so.) Mae Street Kidd, an African American legislator elected in 1967, sponsored the bill.

1976

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Return to the Main Timeline


In Batson v Kentucky—a case that originated in Louisville—the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that excluding jurors based on race alone violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

1986



Kentucky voters passed an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution to remove language requiring the state to maintain separate schools for "white" and "colored" children.

1996



Touch the Screen to Begin

Documents

1792-1865 Kentucky Statehood through the Civil War Reconstruction 1863-1877 1877-1954 The Jim Crow Era The Civil Rights Movement 1954-1968 More Recent