Race Distinctions in American LawStephenson, Gilbert Thomas
History
Race Distinctions in American Law
Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas
African Americans -- Politics and government; Law -- United States -- History; United States -- Race relations
Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Tennessee are the only States that
expressly prohibit the teaching of white and colored persons in the same
private school. Other States—as Georgia and Texas—declare that, if a
school admits both races, it shall have none of the public school fund,
saying, by implication, that one may operate a school for both races if
he will give up his claim to State aid. On the other hand, Minnesota has
enacted a statute to the effect that, if a school refuses to admit
pupils of both races, it shall have none of the public school fund, thus
saying, by implication, that it is not unlawful to conduct a private
school exclusively for one race. The recent decision of the Supreme
Court of Michigan to the effect that a private school may exclude
Negroes even though the law of the State requires public schools to be
open to all, regardless of race or color, has been considered.
EQUALITY OF ACCOMMODATIONS
In general, the “accommodations, advantages, and facilities” of schools
for Negroes are to be equal to those for white children, but the
requirement has, in many cases, been loosely construed. It has been held
in Missouri[489] and Ohio,[490] for instance, that it is not an unjust
discrimination for the colored children to have to walk farther to
school than the white children. The Supreme Court[491] of Kansas in 1903
decided that uniformity of schools for white and colored children did
not require equality of buildings. The court said: “True, for the
accommodation of a numerous white population a much larger and more
imposing school building is provided than that set apart for the few
colored children in the district. This, however, is but an incidental
matter, and necessarily unavoidable in the administration of any
extended school system. School-houses cannot be identical in every
respect; but parents cannot, on this account, dictate the one their
children shall attend.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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