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 PRESENT EXTENT OF SEPARATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

(a) In South

It is a matter of general knowledge that white and colored children are not permitted to attend the same public schools in the South. The separation is required both by State Constitutions and statutes.

The Constitutions of Alabama of 1875[28] and 1901[29] provide for a system of public schools, but add that separate schools must be maintained for white and colored children. The laws[30] of 1868 have this provision: "In no case shall it be lawful to unite in one school both colored and white children, unless it be by the unanimous consent of the parents and guardians of such children; but said trustees shall in all other cases provide separate schools for both white and colored children." The separation is also required in the laws of 1878[31] and 1884.[32]

Arkansas has no constitutional provision as to separation, but an act[33] of 1867 reads: "No Negro or mulatto shall be permitted to attend any public school in this State, except such schools as may be established exclusively for colored persons." And a statute of 1873[34] declares that the board of education must provide separate schools.

The Constitution[35] of Florida of 1887 provides that white and colored children shall not be taught in the same school, but that impartial provision shall be made for both. A statute[36] of 1895, which will be considered later, makes it a penal offence to educate white and Negro children in the same schools, whether public or private or parochial.

Under a Georgia statute[37] of 1866, any free white citizen between the ages of six and twenty-one years and any