Although the FDA approved birth control in 1960, doctors could not prescribe it. In 1965, the laws loosened a little when the Supreme Court made it legal for married women. It eventually became open for all women, which has allowed them to have more control over when they have children. Most importantly, it gave us Loretta Lynn's hit 1975 song, "The Pill."
Interracial marriage was illegal up to 1967 thanks to a patchwork of state laws against it. Until that point, heterosexual couples could marry, but only to people of the own race. It was sad but not all that surprising.That all changed with the Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, which declared these state laws unconstitutional.
Thanks to the American "Blue laws" of the past, most business was prohibited on Sundays. Although the Supreme Court has ruled these laws are constitutional, many have been repealed as municipalities have decided that their cynical love of Jesus is trumped by a cynical love of money. However, some Blue laws remain on the books, especially in terms of car or alcohol sales on Sundays.
The Jim Crow laws are probably the most infamous segregation laws this country has known. They came into effect in 1877 and stood until the mid-60s, when the civil rights movement knocked them down. These laws prevented African Americans from having access to the same things that white Americans did, even differentiating between water fountains.
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Although the sodomy laws of the United States could be applied to all sorts of people, they targeted gay men in particular. And while they have now been repealed, it took lots of work and several Supreme Court cases to get here. While many states elimated these laws in the 20th century, a 1986 Supreme Court case ruled them constitutional. However, this was overturned with the 2003 ruling, Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated any remaining laws on the books.
Before 1919, women in America could not vote. They had no say in the way their society was run, and this lead to a lot of oppressive leadership forced on them. Several attempts at giving women suffrage had been attempted in the 1800s, it wasn't until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919 that women recieved the right to vote.
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When “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem in 1916, Baltimore passed a law requiring musicians to stand while playing it. It was misinterpreted, and the city was outraged that they were legally obligated to stand at the whims of any nearby patriotic musicians. Ironically, it’s now standard for people to stand when we hear the National Anthem. So much for resisting those evil, manipulative musicians who want to make us stand at random times.
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Membership in the Communist Party or support for Communist ideals used to be illegal in America. The Communist Control Act went into effect in 1954 because of the fear the United States had about growing communist movement in Eastern Europe. That being said, the Act was met with controversy, and there are no records of it ever actually being enforced.
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Although marijuana is largely still illegal at the federal level, over half of states in the USA now have laws legalizing medicinal or recreational weed. This is one of those trends that really snuck up on us--15 or 20 years ago, legalization laws like these would have been unthinkable in most places.
New York City, a city where anything goes, once hated pinball machines. In the ‘40s, they were seen as gambling machines produced by the Chicago mafia that used materials that would be better served making weapons to fight the Nazis with.
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In 1973, abortion became legal because of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. This ruling has clearly polarized feelings on both sides, as this is one battle that continues to play out in courts and the culture at large today.
Only 4 states had codified this statute prior to Roe v Wade. Following this case, the number increased to 21 states and the District of Columbia. Judy Chu introduced the Women's Health Protection Act in 2021, which would include abortion rights under federal law. The Senate turned down the bill despite the House of Representatives passing it.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decided in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, abolishing federal protections for abortion. This ruling stated that individual states should be in charge of their abortion legislation, and subsequently, more people should be involved in a woman's right to her body.
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Various bathing suit decency laws have been enforced in America's history but never in a consistent manner or at a federal level. For example, Queens hired 20 women dubbed "sheriffettes" in the 1920s to ensure that swimwear at Rockway Beach was sufficiently modest. You don't have to dig deep to find plenty of stories of municipalities wasting everyone's time and money with ridiculous investigations like these.
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Mississippi used to prohibit buying cold beers. Well, they used to prohibit all beer, and allowing the sale of warm beer was actually a step towards giving customers what they wanted. They prohibited selling cold beer so that people would be less likely to buy beer and drink it while they're out and about. This law was repealed in 2013.
For years, an obscure law in Michigan has prevented people from really belting out the United States national anthem because of an obscure law stating that it be performed "without embellishments." This same law also prohibited dancing to the Star Spangled Banner--although we can't imagine a scenario where that would actually happen.
In the mid-nineteenth century, it became fairly standard to see laws put in place that prevented people from dressing in clothes “not belonging to his or her sex.” It’s weird to think that people got so up in arms about something that has no negative consequences.
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Before the Civil War, it was incredibly difficult (and outright impossible much of the time) for black people to vote. With the passage of the 15th amendment, black men were given voting rights, but in practice this was not always the case--and something similar happened with black women and the 19th amendment. Southern states would frequently enact laws that didn't technically disenfranchise voters by race but would do just that in practice. Thanks to several Supreme Court decisions and laws passed during the Civil Rights era, these state voting laws were eliminated.
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