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
Where, under the above view, race distinctions are justifiable, and are
enacted into law, the people of all races should unite in demanding that
the laws be fairly applied. If, for instance, the presence of sufficient
Negroes make it advisable to separate the races in public conveyances,
the white people should unite with them in demanding that they be given
equal accommodations. The Negro who has paid a first-class fare is
entitled to coaches and waiting-rooms as sanitary, comfortable, and
convenient as those provided for white persons paying the same fare.
With separate schools provided, they should insist that each race be
given an equal opportunity to get the sort of training it most needs to
do its work. This training may be different. The Southern Education
Association[776] in session at Lexington, Kentucky, said: “On account of
economic and psychological differences in the two races we believe there
should be a difference in the courses of study and methods of teaching,
and that there should be such an adjustment of school curricula as shall
meet the evident needs of Negro youth.” If it is true that the Negro
child needs a different sort of training from the white, then it is a
discrimination to give him the training peculiarly suited to the child
of the other race. People may demand for the two races equal educational
opportunities, and at the same time advocate different courses of study
and methods of teaching.
In States which have added new qualifications for suffrage, both races
may demand their impartial application. A Negro public spirited enough
to pay his taxes, with education enough to read and write, or thrifty
enough to accumulate the required amount of property should be allowed
to register and vote as freely as a white man with similar
qualifications. A white registrar who discriminates against a Negro
applicant, by setting for him more difficult tests than are set for
white applicants, is doing an injustice to the white people equally as
great as that done to the Negroes. John B. Knox,[777] President of the
Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1901, said at that time: “If we
would have white supremacy, we must establish it by law—not by force or
fraud. If you teach your boy that it is right to buy a vote, it is an
easy step for him to learn to use money to bribe or corrupt officials or
trustees of any class. If you teach your boy that it is right to steal a
vote, it is an easy step for him to believe that it is right to steal
whatever he may need or greatly desire.” Speaking from the standpoint of
the Negro, Dr. Booker T. Washington[778] said: “As a rule, I believe in
universal, free suffrage, but I believe that in the South we are
confronted with peculiar conditions that justify the protection of the
ballot in many of the States, for a while at least, either by an
educational test, a property test, or by both combined; but whatever
tests are required, they should be made to apply with equal and exact
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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