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 CHAPTER X

NEGRO IN COURT ROOM

The Negro goes into a court room in one or more of six capacities, namely: as spectator, witness, juror, party to a suit, attorney, or judge. It is in each of these capacities that the Negro in the court room is to be considered, but some of them permit of only brief mention. How the Negro actually fares in the court room—whether he gets justice as often as the white person does, whether his testimony has as much weight with the jury and court as that of the white witness, whether the Negro attorney or judge is accorded as much courtesy as the white man in a similar position—would make an interesting and profitable study, but such a study is largely outside the field of this investigation. It should be kept in mind now, as in the previous chapters, that only those distinctions are considered which have come within the pale of the law since 1865, either in the form of statutory enactment or judicial decision. Where mention is made of some of the actual extralegal race distinctions in the court room, it is only for illustration.

AS SPECTATOR

The court room, while the court is in session, is open to all citizens, regardless of race or color. No instance has