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 authorities said, "it seemed like going back to old ideas."[118]

The city of Buffalo, New York, under a provision of its charter, established separate schools for Negroes, and this action was upheld by the court[119] on the ground that the right to attend common schools is a legislative grant and not a constitutional guarantee. The city of Albany also set apart one school for Negroes, and this was held[120] constitutional in 1872. And in 1883, the Supreme Court[121] of that State held that, if separate schools are provided for colored children, they may be excluded from the white schools. In 1899, the same was held[122] for the Borough of Queens. These decisions were under the law of 1864,[123] reënacted in 1894,[124] which gave power to the school authorities of cities and incorporated villages, when they deemed it expedient, to establish separate schools. But this law was repealed in 1900,[125] and the present law reads: "No person shall be refused admission to or be excluded from any public school in the State of New York on account of race or color."

An Ohio statute[126] of 1878 gave the boards of education discretionary power to establish separate schools for Negroes. This law was repealed in 1887,[127] and thereafter all public schools were open to colored children.[128]

In 1869, persons of color were not admitted to the sub-*district schools of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,[129] but this law was repealed in 1872.[130] An earlier statute of 1854 had provided for separate schools for Negroes where there were more than twenty in the district. The school directors of Wilkesbarre had united two districts, each having less than twenty colored children, and put up a school building