The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921 — John Shaqi
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
The decisions in the cases of _M. K. and T. Railway_ v. _Haber_[36]
and _Crutcher_ v. _Kentucky_,[37] are of some importance. In these
cases the court reiterated the doctrine that the regulation of the
enjoyment of the relative rights and the performance of the duties, of
all persons within the jurisdiction of a State belong primarily to
such a State under its reserved power to provide for the safety of all
persons and property within its limits; and that even if the subject
of such regulations be one that may be taken under the exclusive
control of Congress, and be reached by national legislation, any
action taken by the State upon that subject that does not directly
interfere with rights secured by the Constitution of the United States
or by some valid act of Congress, must be respected until Congress
intervenes.[38] The court by this time, however, had all but held that
the Constitution secured to the Negro no civil or political rights
except that of exemption from involuntary servitude, and that law for
the Negro is the will of the white man.
Further development of the doctrine as to the right of the State to
deprive a Negro of citizenship is brought out in the _Lauder
Case_.[39] The case was this: Lauder's wife purchased a first class
ticket from Hopkinsville to Mayfield, both places within the State of
Kentucky. She took her place in what was called the "ladies' coach"
and was ejected therefrom by the conductor and assigned a seat in a
smoking car, which was alleged to be small, badly ventilated, unclean
and fitted with greatly inferior accommodations. This road ran from
Evansville, Indiana, to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It was held in the
Court of Appeals that the decision of the United States Supreme Court
in _Louisville, New Orleans and Railway_ v. _Mississippi_[40] and
_Plessy_ v. _Ferguson_[41] was conclusive of the constitutionality of
the act so far as the plaintiffs were concerned; and that the mere
fact that the railroad extended to Evansville, in the State of
Indiana, could in no wise render the statute in question invalid as to
the duty of the railroad to respect it.
In the case of _Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company_ v.
_Kentucky_,[42] this doctrine was carried to its logical conclusion.
The question was whether a proper construction of the separate car law
confines its operation to passengers whose journeys commence and end
within the boundaries of the State or whether a reasonable
interpretation of the act requires Negro passengers to be assigned to
separate coaches when traveling from or to points in other States. In
other such cases the Supreme Court of the United States had
interpreted the local law as applying only to interstate commerce. The
language of the first section of the Kentucky statute made it very
clear that it applied to all carriers. The first section of the
Kentucky law follows:
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