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
hundred dollars, or imprisonment between three months and a year, or
both. The law of Oregon declares that one who wilfully and knowingly
performs such marriage ceremony shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary
or county jail from three months to one year and fined from one hundred
dollars to one thousand dollars. South Carolina provides that one who
knowingly and willingly unites persons of different races in the bonds
of matrimony shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of
not less than five hundred dollars nor more than twelve months’
imprisonment, or both. Virginia declares that he shall forfeit two
hundred dollars, of which the informant shall get one-half; and West
Virginia provides that the one who knowingly performs the ceremony shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not over two hundred dollars.
COHABITATION WITHOUT INTERMARRIAGE
A few States have statutes relative to illicit relations between white
and colored persons, where no marriage is pretended to exist. Alabama
imposes for this offence upon both man and woman the same punishment as
for intermarriage; a living together in adultery one day with intent to
continue that relation has been held to constitute a violation of the
statute.[194] Florida declares that, if any white person and Negro or
mulatto shall live together in adultery or fornication with each other,
each shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding a year, or by a
fine not exceeding a thousand dollars. The law adds that any Negro man
and white woman or any white man and Negro woman, not married to each
other, who habitually live in and occupy in the night-time the same
room, no other person over fifteen years of age being present, shall be
punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by a fine not
exceeding five hundred dollars. Nevada provides that, if any white
person shall live and cohabit with any black person, mulatto, Indian, or
Chinese, in a state of fornication, such person so offending shall be
fined not over five hundred and not less than one hundred dollars, or
imprisonment in the county jail between one and six months, or both.
Louisiana[195] has the most recent and the most thorough-going statute
against miscegenation; it was adopted July 1, 1908. It provides that
concubinage between a white person and a Negro is a felony, punishable
by imprisonment for not less than one month nor more than one year.
Concubinage is defined as unlawful cohabitation of white persons and
Negroes whether open or secret. It was made the duty of the judges to
specially charge the grand juries upon this statute.
The most interesting feature about these statutes is that they impose a
heavier penalty for cohabitation between a white and a colored person
than between two members of the same race. Yet they have been held to
comply with the Constitution of the United States. The reasons why such
statutes are held to be constitutional will be considered later.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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