Ace the Civic Literacy Challenge 2025 – Unlock Your Citizen Superpower!

The pair of cases that limited the rights of African-Americans is accurately represented by Plessy v. Ferguson and Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Plessy v. Ferguson, decided in 1896, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. This ruling institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination, asserting that states could maintain separate facilities for black and white individuals as long as they were purportedly equal. This legitimized many oppressive Jim Crow laws, which significantly restricted the rights and freedoms of African-Americans, particularly in the South.

Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided in 1857, declared that African-Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not be American citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal court. This ruling not only denied citizenship to African-Americans but also reinforced the institution of slavery and contributed to the social and legal justification for the oppression of African-Americans.

In contrast, the other options include cases that either expanded rights or addressed issues not specifically targeting the rights of African-Americans. For example, Brown v. Board of Education and Tinker v. Des Moines involved desegregation of public schools and student speech rights, respectively, promoting rather than limiting rights.