Civic Nationalism Series: Northern Jim Crow Laws

Benjamin Garland has an article at The Daily Stormer in which he argues that we are “marching in lockstep with the anti-American liberal left” by arguing that American history is essentially a straight line “from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to today.”

I’ve used the Wayback Machine to reconstruct the Jim Crow laws of the Northern states from the defunct JimCrowHistory.org website. Unfortunately, I couldn’t recover the material from New York, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, but these states were no different from others in the region. New Hampshire and Rhode Island have had black citizenship since the time of the American Revolution. Blacks could vote also vote in New York as long as they met certain property requirements by the 1820s. New York and New Hampshire never had anti-miscegenation laws.

In the Midwest, I haven’t included North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska because these states had Jim Crow laws. Indiana and Connecticut were also outliers in the Midwest and Northeast respectively because these states had anti-miscegenation laws. Connecticut was the only New England state that didn’t have black citizenship until Reconstruction. Indiana has always been a regional outlier in the Midwest because Hoosiers are mostly descended from Southerners.

There is much more that is wrong with Garland’s argument, but this is what I want to address for now. The laws passed by Northern state legislatures below illustrate how the Northern states were conforming to and working out Abraham Lincoln’s vision of a “New Birth of Freedom” between the War Between the States and the Civil Rights Movement. In New England, the transformation goes back to the American Revolution. In the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey), it tends to go back to the Reconstruction era. It is simply indisputable that the ideal of civic nationalism slowly gained ground at the expense of White racial consciousness in the North.

The South has a very different history. The Northern states have more in common with Canada than the South in the history of race relations in that region. By the 1920s, the North was already more or less integrated with the exceptions of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Indiana.

Massachusetts

As early as 1843, Massachusetts began repealing segregation laws passed earlier in the state’s history. Twelve statutes barring segregation were enacted between 1865 and 1957, making Massachusetts’ legislative record one of the most progressive in the nation. The state did, however, impose a language requirement for electors in 1892, and ordered that race be considered in adoption petitions in 1955.

1865: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Discrimination in any inn, public place of amusement, public carrier, or public meeting prohibited. Penalty: Fine up to $50.

1866: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to exclude persons or restrict them from entering any theater or public place of amusement. Penalty: Fine up to $50.

1885: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination on account of color or race, or “except for good cause,” in admission to any theater, skating rink, or other public place or amusement. Penalty: fine up to $100.

1892: Voting rights [Statute]
Required voters to be able to read state Constitution in English and write their name.

1892: Voting [Statute]
The state passed a statute in 1892 declaring that voters be able to read the state constitution in English and write their name.

1893: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Expanded 1885 law to include barber shops and other public places open for “hire, gain, or reward.”

1894: Barred school segregation [Statute]
No person shall be excluded from a public school on account of race, color, or the religious opinions of the applicant.

1895: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination or restriction on account of color or race relative to the admission of any person in a public place. Penalty: Fine up to $300 or imprisonment up to one year, or both, and shall pay injured party between $25 and $300.

1933: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1948: Barred public housing segregation [Statute]
Discrimination within public housing prohibited on account of race, color, creed, or religion.

1957: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
All persons entitled to full and equal accommodations in public places. Penalty: Minimum fine $100 and/or at least 15 days imprisonment. License could be suspended or revoked.

1957: Barred anti-miscegenation [Statute]
Repealed anti-miscegenation law.

1957: Adoption [Statute]
Race to be given consideration in adoptions.

1957: Barred school segregation [Statute]
No segregated schools to be maintained.

1957: Barred housing segregation [Statute]
“Government housing” was to be included within law barring public accommodations segregation.

Connecticut

Passed only one segregation law in 1879 authorizing a separate black militia. In 1905 the state barred segregation of public facilities. Seven additional civil rights statutes were passed between 1925 and 1958.

1879: Military [Statute]
Authorized state to organize four independent companies of infantry of “colored men.” Companies were to receive same pay as other companies, including one company parade in the Spring and one in September.

1905: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to deprive another person of full and equal enjoyment of any place of public accommodation, amusement or transportation on the basis of race. Penalty: Double damages awarded to the injured person.

1908: Miscegenation [Statute]
Prohibited intermarriage between white persons and those persons having one-eighth or more Negro blood. Penalty: Performing such a ceremony subject to a fine between $100 to $1,000. If the white person knows the other is of Negro or mixed blood, subject to a fine between $100 and $1,000. Could be imprisoned in state prison between one and ten years.

1925: Antidefamation [Statute]
Prohibited motion picture theaters from showing any film which ridiculed the Negro race.

1933: Miscegenation [Statute]
Miscegenation declared a felony.

1933: Education [Statute]
Allowed the establishment of separate schools for Negroes if the authorities believe that such separation is necessary or proper.

1933: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination.

1933: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution.

1935: Education [Statute]
Upheld school segregation as originally authorized by statute of 1869.

1947: Barred employment segregation [Statute]
Fair Employment Practices Act passed. An inter-racial commission was appointed by the governor to investigate discrimination in employment, and violations of civil liberties.

1949: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodations, resorts or amusements. Penalty: $25 to $100, 30 days imprisonment, or both.

1949: Barred military segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination against blacks in the National Guard.

1951: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination in public accommodations such as hotels and restaurants.

1958: Barred National Guard segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination within state National Guard.

Rhode Island

Maine

Made miscegenation legal in 1883, making it one of the first states in the nation to pass such legislation. A statute passed in 1893 required electors to be able to read the Constitution in English.

1883: Barred anti-miscegenation [Statute]
1821 law prohibiting intermarriage between whites and blacks repealed.

1893: Voter rights [Constitution]
Required an elector to be able to read the Constitution in English and write his name.

1893: Voting [State Code]
A Constitutional amendment was passed in 1893 requiring electors to be able to read the Constitution in English and write his name.

1954: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Advertisements intended to discriminate in places of public accommodation unlawful. Penalty: Up to $100 and up to 30 days imprisonment.

New Hampshire

Vermont

Passed no segregation laws between 1865 and 1957. A 1957 statute barred public accommodations segregation.

1957: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Banned public accommodations segregation. Penalty: $500 or imprisonment up to 30 days, or both.

Pennsylvania

1867: Barred public carrier segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to exclude any person on account of color or race from riding on railroads. Penalty: $500 to be paid to injured party. Employees who violated the law guilty of misdemeanor, and could be fined between $100 and $500, or be imprisoned between 30 days and three months.

1869: Education [Statute]
Black children prohibited from attending Pittsburgh schools.

1872: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Repealed law of 1869 that prevented black children from attending public schools in Pittsburgh.

1881: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Unlawful for any teacher or school administrator to discriminate against students based on race or color.

1887: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Denial to use restaurants, hotels, railroads, streetcars, theaters, concert halls, or places of amusement to a person based on race or color was unlawful. Penalty: Misdemeanor, punishable by a fine between $50 to $100.

1911: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Banned school segregation

1935: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution.

1945: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
All persons entitled to equal advantages of places of public accommodation. Penalty: Up to $100 and/or up to 90 days imprisonment.

1950: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Unlawful for school officials to discriminate.

1956: Adoption [Statute]
Petition must state race or color of adopting parents.

1957: Barred residential segregation [Statute]
Barred segregation within public housing.

New York

New Jersey

1881: Barred school segregation [Statute]
No child between the age of five and 18 years of age would be excluded from public school on account of religion, nationality, or color.

1884: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Entitled all persons equal access to inns, public transportation, theaters and other places of public amusement regardless of race, color and previous servitude. Penalty: Misdemeanor. Offenders would be required to pay the injured party $500. Fined between $500 and $1,000, or imprisonment between 30 days and one year.

1898: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Cemeteries prohibited from refusing to permit the burial of any deceased person on account of color. Penalty: Misdemeanor.

1903: Barred school segregation [Statute]
No child between the age of four and 20 years could be excluded from any public school on account of religion, nationality, or color. Penalty: Misdemeanor, with a fine between $50 and $250, or by imprisonment in county jail, workhouse, or penitentiary between 30 days and six months, or both.

1911: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination by cemeteries.

1924: Civil Rights Protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1929: Education [Statute]
Segregated schools authorized for Negroes.

1945: Civil Rights Protection [Statute]
Established the Division Against Discrimination in the State Department of Education. Agency had the power to enforce an anti-discrimination law containing many of the same provisions included in the 1884 civil rights law.

1953: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to refuse admission in an air raid shelter because of race, creed, or color. Penalty: Not more than $1000 and /or imprisonment for up to one year.

1954: Barred residential segregation [Statute]
Declared discrimination in public housing illegal.

1957: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination in all public accommodations

Ohio

1877: Miscegenation [Statute]
Unlawful for a person of “pure white blood, who intermarries, or has illicit carnal intercourse, with any Negro or person having a distinct and visible admixture of African blood.” Penalty: Fined up to $100, or imprisoned up to three months, or both. Any person who knowingly officiates such a marriage charged with misdemeanor and fined up to $100 or imprisoned in three months, or both.

1878: Education [Statute]
School districts given discretion to organize separate schools for colored children if “in their judgment it may be for the advantage of the district to do so.”

1884: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
All persons of every race and color entitled to full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations, facilities, inns, public transportation, theaters and other places of public amusement. Penalty: Misdemeanor, with $100 paid to injured party, and fine of $100 or imprisonment of 30 days, or both.

1887: Barred miscegenation and school segregation [Statute]
Repealed separate school law of 1878 and 1877 law that banned intermarriage.

1934: Civil rights protection [State Code]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1953: Adoption [Statute]
Race to be taken into account on adoption petitions.

1953: Barred public accommodations segregation [State Code]
Prohibited denial of full enjoyment of accommodation in public places. Penalty $50 to $500, 30 to 90 days imprisonment.

Michigan

1871: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited separate schools or departments based on race or color. Allowed for the grading of schools according to the intellectual progress of pupils.

1883: Barred anti-miscegenation [Statute]
Declared all marriages between white persons and those wholly or partly of African descent to be legal.

1885: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Entitled all persons to full and equal access to inns, restaurants, barber shops, public transportation, theaters, and all other places of public amusement. Penalty: Misdemeanor punished by a fine up to $100, or imprisonment up to 30 days, or both.

1899: Anti-miscegenation [Statute]
Marriage law of 1883 reconfirmed.

1933: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution.

1948: Civil Rights [Statute]
All persons entitled to full and equal access to public accommodations, public educational institutions, transportation, recreation, etc.

1954: Barred National Guard segregation [Constitution]
Prohibited segregation within state militia.

1954: Barred National Guard segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination within state National Guard.

1957: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination in schools at all levels. Penalty: $50 to $250, 30 days to six months imprisonment, or both.

1957: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
All persons have equal rights in all places of public accommodation. Penalty: $100 to $500, misdemeanor.

Indiana

1869: Education [Statute]
Separate schools to be provided for black children. If not a sufficient number of students to organize a separate school, trustees were to find other means of educating black children.

1877: Barred school segregation [Statute]
If separate schools could not be provided for black children they were to be admitted to public schools with white children. If a child in a colored school made sufficient advancement to be in a higher grade than offered by colored schools, he would be entitled to enter a school for white children, with no distinction made on account of race or color.

1885: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Enabled all persons to enjoy inns, restaurants, barber shops, public transportation, theaters, public amusement. Penalty: Misdemeanor that carried a fine of no more than $100, or imprisonment up to 30 days, or both. Victims were to be paid a sum of up to $100.

1905: Miscegenation [Statute]
Miscegenation prohibited.

1947: Antidefamation [Statute]
Prohibited spread of hatred by reason of race, color, or prison. Penalty: disfranchisement for ten years and fines up to $10,000 and imprisonment for two years.

1949: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited separate schools organized on the basis of race, color or creed. Also prohibited discrimination in the transportation of public school students.

1950: Barred housing segregation [Statute]
Prohibited excluding citizens from zoned areas because of race.

1952: Barred National Guard segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination or segregation within state National Guard.

1952: Miscegenation [Statute]
Marriage between whites and Negroes void.

1955: Adoption [Statute]
Required that due regard be given to race on adoption petitions.

1956: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Unlawful for places of public accommodation to display advertising intended to discriminate. Penalty: Up to $100 and/or 30 days imprisonment.

1957: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Defined unfair educational practices.

1957: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Innkeepers and restaurants shall provide food and lodging to travelers. Penalty: Up to $50.

Illinois

1865: Barred residency segregation [Statute]
Repealed 1853 act making it a misdemeanor for a Negro to move to Illinois.

1874: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Boards of education prohibited from excluding any child on account of color from the public schools. Penalty: Those who excluded children based on race would be fined between $5 and $100. Those who threatened a child from attending a public school were subject to a fine up to $25.

1885: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Made inns, restaurants, barber shops, public transportation, theaters and places of public amusement available to all persons. Penalty: Violators of the act would be fined between $25 and $500, paid to the victim, and would also be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of up to $500.

1896: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited school officers from excluding children from public schools on the basis of color. Penalty: $5 to $100.

1897: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
1885 law amended to include hotels, soda-fountains, saloons, bathrooms, theaters, skating-rinks, concerts, cafes, bicycle rinks, elevators, ice cream parlors, railroads, stages, streetcars and boats.

1903: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
1885 law extended to include funeral hearses as list of public services available to all persons.

1911: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Amendment to 1885 Civil Rights law stating that cemeteries could not discriminate based on race the choice of burial plots for burying the dead.

1917: Antidefamation [Statute]
Unlawful to “manufacture, sell or offer for sale, advertise or publish, prsent or exhibit in any public place any lithograph, moving picture, play, drama or sketch, which publication or exhibition portrays depravity, criminality, unchastity, or lack of virtue of a class of citizens, of any race, color, creed or religion…which exposes the citizens of any race, color, creed or religion to contempt, derision, or obloquy or which is productive of breach of the peace or riots.” Penalty: Misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of between $50 and $200.

1927: Housing [Municipal Code]
Chicago adopted racially restrictive housing covenants beginning in 1927, although other tactics had been used in earlier years to maintain a segregated city. At one time, as much as 80 percent of the city may have been covered by restrictive covenants. In 1924, Nathan MacChesney, a prominent Chicago attorney and a member of the Chicago Planning Commission, drafted an addition to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Real Estate Boards that “forbade realtors to introduce members of any race or nationality” into neighborhoods where their presence would damage property values. In 1927, MacChesney drafted a model racial restrictive covenant for the Chicago Real Estate Board, solely targeting African Americans. The Chicago Real Estate Board promoted the covenant to YMCAs, churches, women’s clubs, PTAs, Kiwanis clubs, chambers of commerce and property owners’ associations. Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Park Manor, South Shore, and other neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side adjacent to the so-called “black belt,” responded as well as outlying Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs. Additionally, the University of Chicago was a strong supporter of the covenant campaign in Washington Park, although they denied their affiliation for many years. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court ruled that enforcement of racial restrictive covenants was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, did not put an end to the problem of blacks finding adequate housing. Homeowner associations continued to push for segregation. Shortly after the court decision, the Woodlawn Property Owners wrote:

If the colored people are convinced that life in Woodlawn would be unbearable, they would not want to come in. There must be ways and means to keep whites from selling, causing colored not to want to come in because life here would be unbearable. We are going to save Woodlawn for ourselves and our children!
(Deeds of Mistrust: Race, Housing, and Restrictive Covenants in Chicago, 1900-1950)

1933: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1933: Barred employment discrimination [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination and intimidation on account of race or color in employment under contracts for public buildings or public works. Penalties: $100 for each offense. Fines up to $500 and or imprisonment up to 30 days.

1953: Housing [Municipal Code]
In August 1953, the first black family to move into Trumbull Park, an all-white project of the Chicago Housing Authority, came under attack by nearly fifty teenagers who hurled stones, bricks and racial slurs at their apartment. Venturing outside of their home was equally frightening, and required a police escort. Additionally, blacks traveling through the area now became targets of violence. As more black families moved into the project, they, too, were harassed daily. When blacks received a permit to organize a baseball game at the neighborhood park, tensions intensified. A hostile crowd gathered at the park. When a firecracker tossed from the crowd hit a player, the police sat motionless. A player who went to retrieve a foul ball was attacked by the crowd and a fight broke out. When the police arrested the white who started the fight, the crowd quickly turned their frustrations on the police. Reactions intensified after the fight and there was talk among whites to “burn the dirty bastards out.”

Another disturbing incident occurred in July 1954 when three black women attended mass at a local Catholic church. After the mass the women waited until most of the crowd had left and exited from a side door. A crowd of about thirty awaited the women as they left the church. One white woman was so incensed that she attacked the black women with her umbrella. Father Michael Commins, the rector of the church, reproached his parishioners in a bulletin later that month, saying, “Hissing, hooting and assaulting anyone for going to Mass is very un-Christian like.” Although there was much less violence within Trumbull Park by the early 1960s, anti-black sentiments were still firmly in place. Neighborhood taverns featured Members Only signs, African Americans stayed away from the park, the public swimming pool and local churches. As Arnold R. Hirsch wrote in a journal article published on Trumbull Park, “The decade of resistance that prevented all but a token of African American presence maintained South Deering as a white domain even as King negotiated the desegregation of Birmingham, Alabama.” (Massive Resistance in the Urban North: Trumbull Park, Chicago, 1953-1966, The Journal of American History, Sept. 1995)

1956: Barred health care segregation [Municipal Code]
No hospital to deny to any person admission for care or treatment on account of race, color, creed or national origin.

1957: Barred housing segregation [Statute]
Neighborhood redevelopment corporations must not discriminate.

1957: Barred school segregation [Statute]
No exclusion or segregation in districts of fewer than 1,000 persons. Penalty: $5 to $100.

1958: Barred National Guard segregation [Statute]
Prohibited segregation or discrimination within state National Guard.

Wisconsin

1893: Voting rights [Statute]
Voting rights were to include “any civilized person being a descendant of the Chippewa’s of Lake Superior, or any other Indian tribe, who does not reside on an Indian reservation and who shall subscribe to an oath…that he is not a member of any Indian tribe, and has no claim upon the U.S. for aid and assistance and he relinquishes all tribal relation, and right to receive any aid from the United States.”

1893: Voting [Constitution]
A statute passed in 1893 noted that voting rights were to include “any civilized person being a descendant of the Chippewas of Lake Superior, or any other Indian tribe, who does not reside on an Indian reservation and who shall subscribe to an oath…that he is not a member of any Indian tribe, and has no claim upon the U.S. for aid and assistance and he relinquishes all tribal relation, and right to receive any aid from the United States.”

1895: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Those who denied access to public accommodations or public transportation to persons based on race or color, or who required any person to pay a larger sum than the regular rate charged were liable. Penalty: Payment of at least $5 with costs to the injured party and a fine of up to $100, or confinement in the county jail up to six months, or both.

1931: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination.

1956: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to deny full and equal advantage of public places of accommodation. Penalty: $25 to $200 and/or six months imprisonment.

1957: Barred residential segregation [Statute]
Illegal to discriminate in low income housing.

1957: Barred National Guard segregation [Statute]
Prohibited denial of membership within state militia on account of race.

Iowa

1884: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Entitled all persons to enjoy public accommodations such as inns, public transportation, barber shops, theaters and other places of amusement. Penalty: Misdemeanor.

1892: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Strengthened 1884 civil rights law to include “restaurants, chop-houses, lunch counters, and all other places where refreshments are served and bath houses.”

1931: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1946: Barred public accommodations segregation [State Code]
All persons may use public places of accommodation. Penalty: Misdemeanor, up to $100 and up to 30 days imprisonment.

Minnesota

1877: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to deny children admission to public schools based on “color, social position, or nationality.” Penalty: $50 for each offense. Offending district would lose public school funds.

1885: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
All persons entitled to full access to inns, public transportation, theaters, restaurants, barber shops and places of public amusement. Penalty: Fine from $100 to $500, or imprisonment from 30 days to one year.

1897: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Strengthened 1885 law to include soda fountains and ice cream parlors. Penalty: Misdemeanor with a fine from $25 to $100, or confinement in a county jail from 30 to 90 days. Damages from $25 to $500 awarded to the injured party.

1899: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
Restatement of 1885 and 1887 laws.

1905: Barred school segregation [Statute]
School districts prohibited from classifying students according to race or color, nor separate them into different schools for these reasons. Penalty: Forfeiture by a district of its share of public school funds.

1917: Voting rights [Constitution]
Denied the right to vote to all “tribal Indians.” To vote, Indians had to sever relationships with their tribes.

1917: Voting [Constitution]
In 1917, a constitutional amendment denied the right to vote to all “tribal Indians.” To vote, Indians had to sever relationships with their tribes.

1927: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination. Penalty:Criminal prosecution and damages.

1946: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited racially classifying pupils. Penalty:Forfeiture of public funds; $50 to injured party.

1947: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Unlawful to exclude persons from places of public accommodation, amusement, refreshment or entertainment. Penalty: Gross misdemeanor, civil damages up to $500.

1957: Barred residential segregation [Statute]
Discrimination in housing redevelopment plans prohibited.

Kansas

1868: Education [Statute]
In cities of more than 150,000 persons, separate schools for black or mulatto persons were to be established.

1874: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Prohibited state universities, or other public schools, inns, hotels, boarding houses, places of public amusement, and public transportation from discriminating based on race, or previous condition of servitude. Penalty: Misdemeanor. Fines between $10 and $1,000; liable for damages to be paid to the injured person. Fines would be allocated to the public school fund.

1879: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Cities larger than 150,000 could separate students by race, except in the high schools, where no discrimination would be allowed on the basis of color.

1889: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination in Wichita’s public high school based on race or color.

1905: Education [Statute]
Schools in Kansas City, Kansas, may organize and maintain separate schools for education of white and colored children, including high schools; “but no discrimination on account of color shall be made in high schools, except as provided herein.”

1923: Civil rights protection [Statute]
Outlawed racial discrimination, including racial discrimination in any state university, college or other school of public instruction. Penalty: Criminal prosecution and damages.

1949: Education [Statute]
Upheld 1862 and 1868 statutes providing for separate schools for black or mulatto students.

1949: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Prohibited discrimination within state universities, hotels, public entertainments, public carriers. Penalties: $10 to $1,000 and liable to pay damages to injured persons.