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
Delaware,[58] in 1851, prohibited the immigration of free Negroes from
any State except Maryland: moreover, it forbade them to attend camp
meetings, except for religious worship under the control of white
people, or political gatherings. A law of 1852 provided that no free
Negroes should have the right to vote or “to enjoy any other rights of a
freeman other than to hold property, or to obtain redress in law and in
equity for any injury to his or her person or property.”
Missouri,[59] in 1847, forbade the immigration into the State of any
free Negro; enacted that no person should keep a school for the
instruction of Negroes in reading and writing; forbade any religious
meetings of Negroes unless a justice of the peace, constable, or other
officer was present; and declared that schools and religious meetings
for free Negroes were “unlawful assemblages.”
Ohio, which probably had the most notorious “Black Laws” of any free
State, “required colored people to give bonds for good behavior as a
condition of residence, excluded them from the schools, denied them the
rights of testifying in courts of justice when a white man was party on
either side, and subjected them to other unjust and degrading
disabilities.”[60]
Indiana,[61] in 1851, prohibited free Negroes and mulattoes from coming
into the State, and fined all persons who employed or encouraged them to
remain in the State between ten and five hundred dollars for each
offense.[62] The fines were to be devoted to a fund for the colonization
of Negroes.[63] A law, which was submitted to a special vote and passed
by a majority of ninety thousand, prohibited intermarriage between the
races, provided for colonization of Negroes, and made incompetent the
testimony of persons having one-eighth or more Negro blood.[64]
Illinois,[65] in 1853, made it a misdemeanor for a Negro to come into
the State with the intention of residing there, and provided that
persons violating this law should be prosecuted and fined or sold for a
time to pay the fine.[66]
Iowa,[67] in 1851, forbade the immigration of free Negroes,[68] and
provided that free colored persons should not give testimony in cases in
which a white man was a party.
Oregon,[69] in 1849, forbade the entrance of Negroes as settlers or
inhabitants, the reason being that it would be dangerous to have them
associate with the Indians and incite the latter to hostility against
white people.
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