Singleton v Vance County BOE Motion and Rehearing Petition

    IN  THE

inipnw  Ctart nf %  Inttefr States
O ctober T erm , 1945

No. 704

IRENE MORGAN,

vs.
Appellant,

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.

v s t .... — ..... .W B B r jg g  '" " "■ i” ” ’ ' .....■ = a i g y

APPENDICES
........... ....... ..... :   -——-

W illiam  H . H astie,
L eon A. R ansom ,
T httegood M arshall,

Attorneys for Appellant.

S pottswood W . R obinson, 3rd,
Of Counsel.





Alabama, Statutes, 1940

Title 1, Section 2—Meaning of certain words and terms. 
■—The following words, wherever they appear in this Code, 
shall have the signification attached to them in this section 
unless otherwise apparent from the context:

The word “ person”  includes a corporation as well as a 
natural person.

The word “ writing”  includes typewriting and printing 
on paper.

The word “ oath”  includes affirmation.
The words “ signature”  or “ subscription”  include mark 

when the person cannot write, if his name is written near 
the mark, and witnessed by a person who writes his own 
name as a witness.

The words “ lunatic”  or “ insane”  or the term “ non 
compos mentis”  include all persons of unsound mind.

The word “ property”  includes both real and personal 
property.

The term “ real property”  includes lands, tenements, 
and hereditaments.

The term “ personal property”  includes money, goods, 
chattels, things in action and evidence of debt, deeds, and 
conveyances.

The word “ circuit”  means judicial circuit.
The word “ negro”  includes mulatto.
The word “ mulatto”  or the term “ person of color”  

means a person of mixed blood descended on the part of 
the father or mother from negro ancestors, without refer­
ence to or limit of time or number of generations removed.

The word “ justice” , when applied to a magistrate, 
means justice of the peace.

The term “ justice of the peace” , if not otherwise ex­
pressed, includes a notary public having and exercising 
the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, within the precinct 
or ward for which he is appointed.

The word “ preceding”  means next before.
The word “ following”  means next after.



2

The word “ state” , when applied to the different parts 
of the United States, includes the District of Columbia, 
and the several territories of the United States.

The term “ United States”  includes the territories 
thereof, and the District of Columbia.

The words ‘ ‘ jury ’ ’ or “  juries ’ ’ include courts or judges 
in all cases when a jury trial is waived, or when the court 
or judge is authorized to ascertain and determine the facts 
as well as the law.

The word “ month”  means a calendar month.
The word “ year”  means a calendar year; but, whenever 

the word “ year”  is used in reference to any appropria­
tions for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall 
mean fiscal year.

(1927, p. 716.)

Title 14, Section 360—Marriage, adultery, and fornica- 
tion between white persons and negroes.—If any white 
person and any negro, or the descendant of any negro inter­
marry, or live in adultery or fornication with each other, 
each of them shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the 
penitentiary for not less than two nor more than seven 
years. (1927, p. 219.)

Title 48, Section 196— Separate coaches for whites and 
blacks.—All railroads carrying passengers in this state, 
other than street railroads, shall provide equal but separate 
accommodations for the white and colored races, by pro­
viding two or more passenger cars for each passenger train, 
or by dividing the passenger cars by partitions, so as to 
secure separate accommodations.

Section 197. Conductor must assign each passenger a 
seat in the car designated for his color.—The conductor of 
each passenger train is authorized and required to assign 
eaph passenger to the car or the division of the car, when 
it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which 
such passenger belongs; and if any passenger refuses to 
occupy the car, or the division of the car, to which he is 
assigned by the conductor, such conductor may refuse to 
carry such passenger on the train, and for such refusal 
neither the conductor nor the railroad company shall be



3

liable in damages. But this section shall not apply to 
cases of white or colored passengers entering this state 
upon railroads under contracts for their transportation 
made in another state where like laws to this do not prevail.

Title 48, Section 268—Separate accommodations for 
white and colored passengers.—All passenger stations op­
erated or kept by any motor transportation company shall 
have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket 
windows for the white and colored races but such accom­
modations for the races shall be equal. All motor trans­
portation companies or operators of vehicles carrying pas­
sengers for hire in this state, whether intrastate or inter­
state passengers, shall at all times provide equal but sepa­
rate accommodations for the white and colored races, by 
providing separate vehicle or separate compartments on 
each vehicle or by dividing the vehicle by a partition con­
structed of metal, wood, strong cloth or other material as 
to obstruct the vision between the sections, and shall also 
distinguish the separate sections for the separate accom­
modation of the races. The conductor or agent of the motor 
transportation company in charge of any vehicle is author­
ized and required to assign each passenger to the division 
of the vehicle designated for the race to which such pas­
senger belongs; and if the passenger refuses to occupy the 
division of the vehicle, to which he is so assigned by the 
conductor or agent of such motor transportation company, 
such conductor or agent of such motor transportation com­
pany may refuse to carry such passenger on said vehicle, 
and for such refusal neither the conductor or agent of the 
motor transportation company, nor the motor transporta­
tion company shall be liable in damages, but this section 
shall not apply to cases of white or colored passengers 
entering this state upon vehicles under contracts for their 
transportation made in another state where like laws to 
this do not prevail. Any motor transportation company or 
person violating the provisions of this section shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined 
not more than five hundred dollars for each offense and 
each day’s violation of the same shall constitute a separate 
offense.



4

Alabama, Code, 1923

Section 5001. Marriage, adultery, and fornication be­
tween white persons and negroes.—If any white person and 
any negro, or the descendant of any negro, to the third 
generation, inclusive, though one ancestor of each genera­
tion was a white person, intermarry, or live in adultery or 
fornication with each other, each of them must, on convic­
tion, be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than 
two nor more than seven years.

Alabama, Acts, 1927
P. 219.

No. 214.) (H. 583. Jones of Bullock.

AN ACT
To amend Section 5001 of the Code of 1923

Be it Enacted by the Legislature of Alabama: That 
Section 5001 of the Code of 1923 be amended so as to read 
as follows: Section 5001 (7421) (5096) (4018) (4189)
(3602) (61) marriage, adultery, and Fornication Between 
White Persons and Negroes.—If any white person and any 
negro, or the descendant of any negro intermarry, or live 
in adultery or fornication with each other, each of them 
must, on conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary for 
not less than two nor more than seven years.

Approved August 2, 1927.

Arkansas, Statutes, 1937 (Pope)

Section 1190. Equality of accommodations. All rail­
way companies carrying passengers in this State shall pro­
vide equal but separate and sufficient accommodations for 
the white and African races by providing two or more pas­
senger coaches for each passenger train; provided, each 
railway company carrying passengers in this State may 
carry one partitioned car, one end of which may be used 
by white passengers and the other end by passengers of the



0

African race, said partition to be made of wood, and they 
shall also provide separate waiting rooms of equal and suf­
ficient accommodations for the two races at all their pas­
senger depots in this State. Act April 1, 1893, Section 1, p. 
200.

Section 1191. Exception as to street cars. The fore­
going section shall not apply to street railroads. In the 
event of the disabling of a passenger coach, or coaches, by 
accident or otherwise, said company shall be relieved from 
the operation of this act until its train reaches a point at 
which it has additional coaches. Id., Section 1.

Section 1192. Passengers to occupy places assigned. 
No person or person shall be permitted to occupy seats in 
coaches or waiting rooms other than the ones assigned to 
them on account of the race to which they belong; provided, 
officers in charge of prisoners of different races may be 
assigned with their prisoners to coaches where they will 
least interfere with the comfort of other passengers; pro­
vided, further, that Section 1190 shall not apply to em­
ployees of a train in the discharge of their duties, nor shall 
it be construed to apply to such freight trains as carry pas­
sengers. Id., Section 1.

Section 1193. Separate sleeping and chair cars. Car­
riers may haul sleeping or chair cars for the exclusive use 
of either the white or African race separately, but not 
jointly. Id., Section 1.

Section 1194. Short lines. On all lines of railway less 
than thirty miles long, passenger coaches may be divided 
by partition. Id., Section 1.

Section 1195. Duty of officers. The officers of such pas­
senger trains and the agents at such depots shall have 
power, and are required to assign each passenger or person 
to the coach or compartment or room used for the race to 
which such passenger or person belong. Acts 1891, p. 15, 
Section 2.



6

Section 1196. Penalty. Any passenger or person in­
sisting on going into a coach or compartment or room to 
which by race he does not belong shall be liable to a fine 
of not less than ten dollars nor more than two hundred dol­
lars, and any officer of any railroad company assigning a 
passengei 01 person to a coach or compartment or room 
other than the one set aside for the race to which said pas­
senger or person belongs shall be liable to a fine of twenty- 
five dollars. Id., Section 2.

Section 1197. Duty of passenger. Should any passen­
ger refuse to occupy the coach or compartment or room 
to which he or she is assigned by the officer of such railway 
company, said officer shall have the power to refuse to carry 
such passenger on his train, and should any passenger, or 
any other person not passenger, for the purpose of occupy­
ing or waiting in such sitting or waiting-room not assigned 
to his or her race, enter said room, said agent shall have the 
power, and it is made his duty, to eject such person from 
such room, and for such acts neither they nor the railway 
company which they represent, shall be liable for damages 
in any of the courts of this State. Id., Section 2.

_ Section 1198. Railroad’s noncompliance—penalty. All 
railway companies that shall refuse or neglect to comply 
with the provisions and requirements of this act shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon convic­
tion before any court of competent jurisdiction, be fined 
not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hun­
dred dollars, and every day that such railway company 
shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act, and 
every train run in violation of the provisions hereof, shall 
be a separate offense; and any conductor or other em­
ployees of such passenger train having charge of the same 
or any agent at such depot who shall refuse or neglect to 
carry out the provisions of this act shall, on conviction, 
be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars for each offense. Id., Section 3.

Section 1199. Posting law. All railroad corporations 
carrying passengers in this State, other than street rail­



7

roads, shall keep this law posted up in a conspicuous place 
in each passenger coach and waiting-room. Id., Section 3.

Section 1200. Races defined. Persons in whom there 
is a visible and distinct admixture of African blood shall, 
for the purposes of this act, be deemed to belong to the 
African race; all others shall be deemed to belong to the 
white race. Id., Section 4.

Section 1201. Freight trains. The railroad companies 
shall not be required to furnish separate coaches in freight 
trains for the white and African races. Act February 21, 
1898, Section 1.

Section 1202. Duty to operate. All persons, companies 
or corporations operating any street car line in any city 
of the first class, in the State of Arkansas, are hereby re­
quired to operate separate cars or to separate the white 
and colored passengers in the cars operated for both, and 
to set apart or designate in each car or coach so operated 
for both a portion thereof or certain seats therein to be 
occupied by white passengers, and a portion thereof or 
certain seats therein to be occupied by colored passengers. 
Act March 27, 1903, p. 178, Section 1.

Section 1203. Equality of accommodations. No persons, 
companies or corporations, so operating street cars shall 
make any difference or discrimination in the quality ox- 
convenience of the accommodations provided for the two 
races under the provisions of this act. IcL, Section 2.

Section 1204. Control of conductor. The conductor ox- 
other person in charge of any car or coach so operated 
upon any street car lixxe shall have the right at axxy time, 
whexx in his judgnxeixt it may be necessary or proper for 
the comfort or coxxvenience of passengers so to do, to 
change the said designation so as to increase or decrease 
the amoxxxxt of space or seats set apart for either race, or 
he may require any passenger to change his seat when or 
so often as the chaixge in the passengers may make such 
changes necessary. Id., Section 3.



8

Section 1205. Passengers to take designated seats. All 
passengers on any street car line shall be required to take 
the seat assigned to them, and any person refusing to do 
so shall leave the car, or, remaining upon the car, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be 
fined in any sum not to exceed twenty-five dollars. Id., 
Section 4.

Section 1206. Penalty. Any person, company or cor­
poration failing to operate separate cars, or to set apart 
or designate portions of the cars operated for the sep­
arate accommodation of the white and colored passengers 
as provided by this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not to exceed 
twenty-five dollars. Id., Section 5.

Section 1207. Extra or special cars. Nothing in this 
act shall be construed to prevent the running of extra or 
special cars for the exclusive accommodation of either 
white or colored passengers, if the regular cars are oper­
ated as required by this act. Id., Section 6.

Section 3290. "Person of negro race”  defined. The 
words "person of negro race,”  as used in this act, shall 
be held to apply and include any person who has in his or 
her veins any negro blood whatever. Id. Section 3.

XII. Segregation or W hite and Colored on B usses.

Section 6921. Busses required to designate separate 
seats for whites and colored. All persons, firms, companies 
or corporations operating any motor propelled vehicle for 
the transportation of passengers over the highways of the 
State of Arkansas, are hereby required to designate sep­
arate seating space in each bus for the accommodation of 
white and colored passengers.

Section 6922. Designation—How made. Such designa­
tion shall be by means of a sign with letters of at least 
four inches and of sufficient size as to be visible and dis­
cernible at all times, in front of which all white passengers



9

shall be seated and behind which all colored passengers 
shall he seated. Id. Section 2.

Section 6923. Eights of Bus Operator. The operator 
or other person in charge of any such vehicle shall have 
the right at any time, when it may be necessary or proper 
in his judgment, for the comfort, convenience or accommo­
dation of the passengers, to change said designation so as 
to increase or decrease the amount of space or seats set 
apart for either race by moving the sign hereinbefore re­
quired, or he may require any passenger to change his seat 
when or so often as the change in passengers may require. 
Id. Section 3.

Section 6924. No discrimination in service. No per­
sons, firms, companies or corporations so operating motor 
propelled passenger carrying vehicles shall make any 
difference or discrimination in the quality or convenience 
of the accommodations provided for the two races here­
under. Id. Section 4.

Section 6925. Passenger to take seat assigned. All 
passengers on any motor propelled passenger carrying 
vehicle shall be required to take the seat assigned to them, 
and any person refusing to do so shall leave the vehicle, 
or remaining upon the vehicle, shall be guilty of a mis­
demeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum 
not exceeding Twenty-five Dollars for the first offense; 
and upon conviction for a second offense shall be fined 
Five Hundred Dollars or sentenced to one year in jail, or 
both fined and imprisoned. Upon refusal of any passenger 
to leave the vehicle as aforesaid the operator or person 
in charge shall proceed to the nearest town, city, hamlet 
or village, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the first 
available peace officer to remove said passenger and sub­
ject him to arrest. Id. Section 5.

Section 6926. Violation—penalty. Any person, firm, 
company or corporation failing to designate portions of 
busses for separate accommodations of white and colored 
passengers as provided by this act, shall be guilty of a



10

misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any 
sum not to exceed Twenty-five Dollars. Id. Section 6.

Section 6927. Not applicable to certain busses. Noth­
ing in this act shall be construed to prevent the run of 
extra or special busses or motor propelled passenger carry­
ing vehicles for the exclusive accommodation of either 
white or colored passengers, if the regular cars are op­
erated as required by this act. Id. Section 7.

Acts of Arkansas, 1943

ACT 180.
A n A ct to Amend Act No. 124 of 1937, Approved February

24, 1937, and for Other Purposes.
Be It Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of

Arkansas:

Section 1. B usses R equired to S eparate S eats for 
W hite  and  C olored. All persons, firms, companies or cor­
porations operating any motor propelled vehicle for the 
transportation of passengers over the streets and highways 
of the State of Arkansas, are hereby required to designate 
separate seating spaces in each such vehicle for the ac­
commodation of white and colored passengers, and shall 
cause the white and colored passengers to remain segre­
gated in the seats and spaces so designated.

Section 2. D esignation—-How M ade. Such designation 
shall be by means of a sign with letters of at least four 
inches and of sufficient size as to be visible and discernible 
at all times, which shall be posted in a prominent place 
at both the front and back of such vehicle and which shall 
direct that all white passengers shall seat from the front 
of the vehicle toward the back, and all colored passen­
gers shall seat from the rear of the vehicle forward.

Section 3. D uties of the  Operator or O ther P erson 
in  C harge of S u ch  V eh icle . The operator or other per­
son in charge of such vehicle shall have the right and



11

duty, at any time, when it may be necessary or proper in 
his judgment, for the comfort, convenience or accommoda­
tion of the passengers, to change such designation so as to 
increase or decrease the amount of space or seats set 
apart for either race, he may request any passenger to 
change his seat when or so often as the change in pas­
sengers may require.

Section 4. No D iscrimination Service. N o person, 
firms, companies or corporations so operating motor pro­
pelled passenger-carrying vehicles shall maintain any dif­
ference in the quality or convenience of the accommodations 
provided for the two races hereunder.

Section 5. P assenger to T ake Seat A ssigned. All pas­
sengers on any motor propelled passenger-carrying 
vehicle shall be required to take a seat or space assigned 
to them, and any person refusing to do so shall immedi­
ately leave the vehicle, or if he remains upon the vehicle, 
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction 
shall be fined in any sum not less than $25.00 or more than 
$500.00, or sentenced to the county jail for not less than one 
month or more than six months, or by both fine and im­
prisonment. Upon refusal of any passenger to leave the 
vehicle as aforesaid, the operator or person in charge 
shall proceed to the nearest town, city, hamlet or village, 
and thereupon it shall be the duty of the operator or other 
person in charge of such vehicle to make complaint to the 
first available peace officer, whose duty it shall be to re­
move said passenger and subject him to arrest. The fail­
ure on the part of the operator or other person in charge 
of such vehicle to cause the white and colored passengers 
to take and remain in the seats and spaces provided for 
them, or the failure of such operator or other person in 
charge of such vehicle to immediately cause the arrest of 
any passenger refusing to comply with the request to take 
or remain in the seat and space so designated, shall be 
deemed a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, such opera­
tor or other person shall be fined in any sum not less than 
$25.00 or more than $500.00.



12

_ Section 6. (Any person, firm, company or corporation 
failing to designate portions of motor vehicles) for separate 
accommodations of white and colored passengers as pro­
vided by this Act, or who shall fail or refuse to require 
the operator or other person in charge of such motor ve­
hicle, as their employee, to cause the white and colored 
passengers to take and remain in the seats and spaces 
designated for them, or who fails to require the operator 
or other person in charge of such vehicle, in their employ, 
to cause an immediate arrest of any passenger refusing 
to take and remain in the seat or space assigned to him, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined in any 
sum not less than $25.00 or more than $500.00; any per­
sons, firms, companies or corporations failing or refusing 
to comply with the provisions of this Act shall be liable 
for any damages to persons or property arising out of any 
disturbance caused by the failure to enforce the segregation 
of white and colored passengers.

Section 7. Not A pplicable to Certain M otor. V ehicles. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the run 
of extra or special motor propelled passenger-carrying 
vehicles for the exclusive accommodations of either white 
or colored passengers, if the regular cars are operated as 
required by this Act.

Provided, further that this Act shall not apply to Motor 
Coaches operated in lieu of Street Cars on City streets 
under city franchises and regulations.

A pproved: March 6, 1943.

Florida, Constitution, Article XVI

Section 24. Intermarriage of white persons and ne­
groes prohibited.—All marriage between a white person 
and a negro, or between a white person and a person of 
negro descent to the fourth generation, inclusive, are here­
by forever prohibited.



13

Florida, Statutes, 1941

1.01 Definitions.—In construing these statutes and each 
and every word, phrase, or part hereof, where the con­
text will permit:

(1) The singular includes the plural and vice versa.
(2) The masculine includes the feminine and neuter 

and vice versa.
(3) The word “ person”  includes individuals, children, 

firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, 
trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations 
and all other groups or combinations.

(4) The word “ writing”  includes handwriting, print­
ing, typewriting and all other methods and means of form­
ing letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other 
materials.

(5) The words “ lunatic” , “ insane persons”  and other 
like terms include idiots, lunatics, insane persons, non 
compos mentis and persons of deranged or unsound mind.

(6) The words “ negro” , “ colored” , “ colored persons” , 
“ mulatto”  or “ persons of color” , when applied to per­
sons, include every person having one-eightli or more of 
African or negro blood.

(7) The word “ oath”  includes affirmations.
(8) Reference to any office or officer includes any person 

authorized by law to perform the duties of such office.
(9) Reference to the population or number of inhabi­

tants of any county, city, town, village or other political 
sub-division of the state, shall be taken to be that as shown 
by the last preceding official state or federal census.

(10) The words “ public body” , “ body politic”  or 
“ political sub-division”  include counties, towns, villages, 
special tax school districts, special road and bridge dis­
tricts and all other districts in this state.



14

(11) Crude turpentine gum (oleoresin), the product of 
a living tree or trees of the pine species, and gum-spirits- 
of-turpentine and gum resin as processed therefrom, shall 
be taken and understood to be agricultural products, farm 
products and agricultural commodities.

352.07 Separate accommodations for white and negro 
passengers on electric cars.—All persons operating urban 
and suburban (or either) electric cars as common carriers 
of passengers in this state, shall furnish equal but sep- 
aiate accommodations for white and negro passengers on 
all cars so operated.

352.08 Method of division in electric cars.—The sep­
arate accommodations for white and negro passengers di­
rected in Section 352.07 shall be by separate cars, fixed 
divisions, movable screens, or other method of division in 
the cars.

352.09 Divisions to be marked “ For White”  or “ For 
Colored.” —The car or division provided for white pas­
sengers shall be marked in plain letters in a conspicuous 
place. “ For White,”  and the car or division provided for 
negro passengers shall be marked in plain letters in a con­
spicuous place, “ For Colored.”

302.10 Not to apply to nurses.—Nothing in Sections 
352.07, 352.08, 352.09, 352.12, 352.13, 352.14 or 352.15 shall 
be so construed as to apply to nurses of one race attending 
children or invalids of the other race.

352.11 Operating extra cars for exclusive use of either 
lace. Sections 352.07-352.15 shall not be so construed as 
to prevent the running of special or extra cars, in addi­
tion to the regular schedule cars, for the exclusive accom­
modation of either white or negro passengers.

302.12 Separation of races; penalty.—Any person op­
erating urban and suburban (or either) electric cars as 
common carriers of passengers in this state, failing, re­
fusing or neglecting to make provisions for the separation 
of the white and negro passengers on such cars as re­



15

quired by law, shall, for each offense, be deemed guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined 
not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dol­
lars. This penalty may be enforced against the president, 
receiver, general manager, superintendent or other person 
operating such cars.

352.13 Duty of conductors; penalty.—The conductor or 
other person in charge of any such car shall see that each 
passenger is in the car or division furnished for the race 
to which such passenger belongs, and any conductor or 
other person in charge of such car who shall permit any 
passenger of one race to occupy a car or division provided 
for passengers of the other race, shall be deemed guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be pun­
ished by a fine of not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or by 
imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding sixty 
days.

352.14 Violation by passengers; conductor may arrest 
and eject; penalty.—Any passenger belonging to one race 
who willfully occupies or attempts to occupy any such car, 
or division thereof, provided for passengers of the other 
race, or who occupying such car or division thereof, re­
fuses to leave the same when requested so to do by the 
conductor or other person in charge of such car, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction 
thereof shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding fifty 
dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not ex­
ceeding three months. The conductor or other person in 
charge of such car is vested with full power and authority 
to arrest such passenger and to eject him or her from the 
car.

352.15 Each day of refusal separate offense.—Each day 
of refusal, failure or neglect to provide for the separation 
of the white and negro passengers as directed in this chap­
ter shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.



16

Georgia, Code, 1933

Section 18-206. Separate cars or compartments for 
ulnte and colored passengers; seats; lights; ventilation.— 
Railroad companies doing business in this State shall fur­
nish equal accommodations, in separate cars or compart­
ments of cars, for white and colored passengers, and when 
a car is divided into compartments, the space set apart for 
white and colored passengers respectively may be propor­
tioned according to the proportion of usual and ordinary 
travel by each on the railroad or line on which the cars are 
used. Such companies shall furnish to the passeng'ers com­
fortable seats and shall have the cans well and sufficiently 
lighted and ventilated. Officers or employees having charge 
of i ailroad cars shall not allow white and colored passengers 
to occupy the same car or compartment.

Section 18-207. Duty to assign passengers to their cars; 
police powers of conductors.—All conductors or other em­
ployees in charge of passenger cars shall assign all pas­
sengers to their respective cars, or compartments of cars, 
provided by the said companies under the provisions of 
Section 18-206 and all conductors of street cars and busses 
shall assign all passengers to seats on the cars under their 
charge, so as to separate the white and colored races as 
much as practicable; and all conductors and other employees 
of railroads and all conductors of street cars and busses 
shall have, and are hereby invested with, police powers to 
carry out said provisions.

Section 18-208. Remaining in seat, compartment or car 
other than that to which assigned.—No passenger shall re­
main in any car, compartment, or seat, other than that to 
which he has been assigned. The conductor and any and 
all employees on such cars are clothed with power to eject 
from the train or car any passenger who refuses to remain 
in the car, compartment or seat assigned to him.

Section 18-209. Nurses and servants excluded from op­
eration of law.—The provisions of the preceding three sec­
tions shall not apply to colored nurses or servants in at­
tendance on their employees.



17

Section 18-210. White and colored passengers on sleep­
ing cars to be separated.—Sleeping-car companies and rail­
road companies operating sleeping cars in this State shall 
have the right to assign all passengers to seats and berths 
under their charge, and shall separate the white and col­
ored races in making said assignment, and the conductor 
and other employees on the train to which sleeping cars may 
be attached shall not permit white and colored passengers 
to occupy the same compartment: Provided, that nothing 
in this section shall be construed to compel sleeping-car 
companies or railroads operating sleeping cars to carry 
persons of color in sleeping or parlor cars: Provided, that 
this section shall not apply to colored nurses or servants 
traveling with their employers. A. conductor or other em­
ployee of a sleeping car, as well as a conductor or other 
employee of the train to which a sleeping car may be at­
tached, shall have full police power to enforce this section. 
(Acts 1899, p. 66.)

Section 18-9906. Employee failing to assist in ejecting 
passenger from sleeping car.—A  conductor or other em­
ployee of a sleeping car, or of a train carrying sleeping 
cars, who shall fail or refuse to assist in ejecting a passen­
ger violating the provisions of section 18-210 shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor.

Section 18-9907. Failure to keep water or lights in pas­
senger cars.—A violation of section 18-211, requiring rail­
road companies to keep an adequate supply of good, pure 
drinking water in each passenger car at all hours, and 
lights during the night for the use of passengers, shall be 
a misdemeanor.

Section 18-9908. Conductor or agent of railroad fail­
ing to furnish water or lights.—Any conductor or agent of 
a railroad, who, after being requested by a passenger to 
furnish a sufficient supply of water to the passengers in 
each car, or light at night, shall pass any depot or station 
without so doing, may be indicted in any county through 
which the railroad of which he is agent or conductor runs, 
and shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.



18

Section 18-9909. Failure of railroad to install cinder 
deflectors on passenger coaches.*—Any railroad company 
refusing- or neglecting to comply with Section 18-212, with 
i egard to installing cinder deflectors on passenger coaches, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con­
viction thereof shall be fined in the sum of not less than 
$500 or more than $1,000 for each coach not equipped as re- 
quired by said section.

Section 18-9910. Failure to supply railway station ac­
commodations for passengers.—A  failure by a railroad 
company to comply with Section 18-213, in relation to a 
lighted and comfortable room for passengers, shall be a 
misdemeanor.

Section 68-616. Carriage of white or colored passen­
gers, or both. Motor common carriers may confine them­
selves to carrying either white or colored passengers • or 
they may provide different motor vehicles for carrying 
white and colored passengers; and they may carry white 
and colored passengers in the same vehicle, but only under 
such conditions of separation of the races as the Commis­
sion may prescribe.

192S Supplement to Georgia Code

Section 2177. (Section 1820.) Who are persons of 
Color.—All negroes, mulattoes, mestizos, and their de­
scendants, having any ascertainable trace of either negro 
or African, West Indian, or Asiatic Indian blood in their 
veins, and all descendants of any person having either 
negro or African, West Indian, or Asiatic Indian blood in 
his or her veins, shall be known in this State as persons of
color. Acts 1865-6, p. 239; 1927, p. 272. '



19

Georgia, Laws of 1927

P ersons op Color; Marriage; Registry.

No. 317.
An Act to define who are persons of color and who are 

white persons, to prohibit and prevent the intermar­
riage of such persons, and to provide a system of regis­
tration and marriage licensing as a means for accom­
plishing the principal purpose, and to provide punish­
ment for violations of the provisions of this Act, and 
for other purposes.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the 
State of Georgia, that Section 2177 of the Civil Code of 
Georgia of 1910, (Acts 1865-6, page 239), being an Act to 
define persons of color, be and the same is hereby amended 
as follows: By striking therefrom the words “ one-eighth”  
and inserting in lieu thereof the following words: “ any
ascertainable trace of either,”  and by adding and inserting 
after the word “ African”  and before the word “ blood”  
the following words: “ West Indian, or Asiatic Indian,”  
and by adding and inserting after the word “ veins”  and 
before the word “ shall”  the following words: “ and all
descendants of any person having either Negro or African, 
West Indian, or Asiatic Indian blood in his or her veins,”  
so that said Section 2177 as amended shall read as follows: 
“ All negroes, mulattoes, mestizos, and their descendants, 
having any ascertainable trace of either Negro or African, 
West Indian, or Asiatic Indian blood in their veins, and 
all descendants of any person having either Negro or 
African, West Indian, or Asiatic Indian blood in his or her 
veins, shall be known in this State as persons of color.”

Section 2. Be it further enacted, that upon the passage 
of this Act the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, under 
the supervision of the State Board of Health, shall prepare 
a form for the registration of individuals, whereon shall 
be given the racial composition of such individual, as Cau­
casian, Negro, Mongolian, West Indian, Asiatic Indian,



20

Malay, or any mixture thereof, or any other non-Caueasic 
strains, and if there be any mixture, then the racial com­
position of the parents and other ancestors in so far as as- 
cei tainable, so as to show in what generation such mixture 
occurred. Said form shall also give the date and place of 
birth of the registrant, name, race, and color of the parents 
of legistrant, together with their place of birth if known, 
name of husband or wife of registrant, with his or her place 
of birth, names of children of registrant with their ages 
and place of residence, place of residence of registrant for 
the five years immediately preceding registration, and such 
other information as may be prescribed for identification 
by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.

Section 3. Be it further enacted, that the State Regis- 
tiai of Vital Statistics shall supply to each local registrar 
a sufficient number of such forms to carry out the provi­
sions of this Act.

Section 4. Be it further enacted, that each local regis­
trar shall personally or by deputy, upon receipt of said 
foims, cause each person in his district or jurisdiction to 
execute said form in duplicate, furnishing all available in­
formation required upon said form, the original of which 
form shall be forwarded by the local registrar to the State 
Registrar of Vital Statistics, and a duplicate delivered to 
the ordinary of the county. Said form shall be signed by 
the legistrant, or, in case of children under fourteen years 
of age, by a, parent, guardian, or other person standing in 
loco parentis. The execution of such registration certifi­
cate shall be certified to by the local registrar.

Section 5. If the local registrar have reason to believe 
that any statement made by any registrant is not true, he 
shall so write upon such certificate before forwarding the 
same to the State registrar or ordinary, giving his reason 
therefor.

Section 6. It shall be unlawful for any person to refuse 
to execute said registration certificate as provided in this 
Act, or to refuse to give the information required in the 
execution of the same; and any person who shall refuse to



21

execute sucli certificate, or who shall refuse to give the in­
formation required in the execution of the same, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished as pre­
scribed in Section 1065 of the Penal Code of Georgia of 
1910. Each such refusal shall constitute a separate offense.

Section 7. The local registrar shall collect from each 
registrant a registration fee of thirty cents, fifteen cents 
of which shall go to the local registrar and fifteen cents of 
which shall go to the State Board of Health, to be used in 
defraying expenses of the State Bureau of Vital Statistics. 
If any registrant shall make affidavit that through poverty 
he is unable to pay said registration fee of thirty cents, the 
local registrar shall receive a registration fee of only ten 
cents for such registration, which sum shall be paid out of 
the funds of the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, and the 
State Bureau of Vital Statistics shall receive no fee for such 
registration. This section shall not apply to the registra­
tion or births or deaths, the registration of which is other­
wise provided for.

Section 8. Be it further enacted, that it shall be a felony 
for any person to wilfully or knowingly make or cause to 
be made a registration certificate false as to color or race, 
and upon conviction thereof such person shall be punished 
by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one 
year and not more than two years. In such case the State 
registrar is authorized to change the registration certificate 
so that it will conform to the truth.

Section 9. Be it further enacted, that upon the passage 
of this Act, the State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall 
prepare a form for application for marriage license, which 
form shall require the following information to be given 
over the signature of the prospective bride and groom; 
name and address; race and color; place of birth; age; name 
and address of each parent; race and color of each parent; 
and whether the applicant is registered with the Bureau 
of Vital Statistics of this or any other State, and, if reg­
istered, the county in which such registration was made. 
The State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall at all times



22

keep the ordinaries of each county in this State supplied 
with a sufficient number of said form of application for mar­
riage license to care for all applications for marriage li­
cense. Each prospective bride and each prospective groom 
applying for marriage license shall fill out and execute said 
application in duplicate.

_ Section 10. Be it further enacted, that upon such ap~ 
plications for marriage license being filed with the ordinary 
by the prospective bride and prospective groom, the ordi­
nary shall forward the original of such application to the 
State Registrar of Vital Statistics, and retain the duplicate 
of such application in his files.

Section 11. Be it further enacted, that the ordinary 
shall withhold the issuing of any marriage license until a 
report upon such application has been received from the 
State Registrar of Vital Statistics. Said report from the 
State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall be forwarded to 
the ordinary by the next return mail, and shall state 
whether or not each applicant is registered in the Bureau 
of Vital Statistics; if registered, the report shall state 
whether the statements made by each applicant as to race 
and color are correct according to such registration cer­
tificate. If the registration certificate in the office of the 
Bureau of Vital Statistics show that the statement of either 
applicant as to race or color are untrue, the report of the 
State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall so state, and in such 
case it shall be illegal for the ordinary to issue a marriage 
license to the applicants, until the truth of such statements 
of the applicants shall have been determined in a legal 
proceeding brought against the ordinary to compel the 
issuing of such license. I f  the report from the State Regis­
trar of Vital Statistics shows that the applicants are not 
registered, and if the State Bureau of Vital Statistics has 
no information as to the race or color of said applicants, 
then the ordinary shall issue the marriage license if he has 
no evidence or knowledge that such marriage would be 
illegal. If one of the applicants is registered with the State 
Bureau of Vital Statistics and the other applicant is not 
so registered, if the records of the Bureau of Vital Statis­



tics contain no information to disprove the statements of 
either applicant as to color or race, then the ordinary shall 
issue the marriage license, if he has no evidence or knowl­
edge that such marriage would be illegal. Provided, that 
where each party is registered and such registration cer­
tificate is on file in the office of the ordinary of the county 
where application for marriage license is made, it shall not 
be necessary for the ordinary to obtain any information 
from the (State Bureau of Vital Statistics; and provided 
further, that when any person who has previously regis­
tered as required herein moves to another county, he may 
file with the ordinary of the county of his new residence a 
certified copy of his registration certificate, which shall 
have the same effect as if such registration had been made 
originally in said county.

Section 12. Be it further enacted, that where any ap­
plication for marriage license shows that such applicant 
was not born in this State and is not registered with the 
Bureau of Vital Statistics of this State, the ordinary shall 
forward a copy of such application to the State Registrar 
of Vital Statistics of this State, and shall also forward a 
copy of the application to the clerk of the superior or cir­
cuit court, as the case may be, of the county of the appli­
cant ’s birth, and another copy to the Bureau of Vital Statis­
tics, at the capitol of the State, of the applicant’s birth, with 
the request that the statements therein contained be veri­
fied. If no answer be received from such clerk or Bureau 
of Vital Statistics within ten days, the ordinary shall issue 
the license if he have no evidence or knowledge that such 
marriage would be illegal. If an answer be received within 
ten days, showing the statement of such applicant to be 
untrue, the ordinary shall withhold the issuing of the license 
until the truth of such statements of the applicant shall 
have been determined in a legal proceeding brought against 
the ordinary to compel the issuing of such license. In 
all cases where answers are received from such clerk or 
Bureau of Vital Statistics, a copy of the answer shall be 
forwarded to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics of this 
State.



24

Section 13. Be it further enacted, that when a marriage 
license is issued by the ordinary, it shall be returned to the 
ordinarj7' by the officer or minister solemnizing the marri­
age, and forwarded by the ordinary to the State Registrar 
of Vital Statistics, to be permanently retained by said 
registrar.

Section 14. Be it further enacted, that the term “ white 
person”  shall include only person of the white or Cau­
casian race, who have no ascertainable trace of either 
Negro, African, West Indian, Asiatic Indian, Mongolian, 
Japanese, or Chinese blood in their veins. No person shall 
be deemed to be a white person any one of whose ancestors 
has been duly registered with the State Bureau of Vital 
Statistics as a colored person or person of color.

Section 15. Be it further enacted, that from and after 
the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful for a white per­
son to marry any save a white person. Any person, white 
or otherwise, who shall marry or go through with a mar­
riage ceremony in violation of this provision shall be guilty 
of a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the 
penitentiary for not less than one nor more than two years, 
and such marriage shall be utterly void.

Section 16. Be it further enacted, that any person who 
shall make or cause to be made, a false statement as to race 
or color of himself or parents, in any application for mar­
riage license, shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be 
punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less 
than two nor more than five years.

Section 17. Be it further enacted, that any ordinary 
who shall issue a marriage license without complying with 
each and every provision of this Act shall be guilty of and 
punished as for a misdemeanor.

Section 18. Be it further enacted, that if any civil 
officer, minister, or official of any church, sect, or religion, 
authorized to perform a marriage ceremony, "shall wilfully 
or knowingly perform any marriage ceremony in violation 
of the terms of this Act, he shall be guilty of and punished 
as for a misdemeanor.



25

Section 19. Be it further enacted, that if any case of 
a marriage in violation of the provisions of this Act is 
reported to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, he shall 
investigate such report, and shall turn over to the Attor­
ney-General of the State the information obtained through 
such investigation.

Section 20. Be it further enacted that when any birth 
certificate is forwarded to the Bureau of Vital Statistics, 
showing the birth of a legitimate child to parents one of 
whom is white and one of whom is colored, it shall be the 
duty of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics to report 
the same to the Attorney-General of the State, with full 
information concerning the same. Thereupon it shall be 
the duty of the Attorney-General to institute criminal pro­
ceedings against the parents of such child, for any viola­
tion of the provisions of this Act which may have been 
committed.

Section 21. Be it further enacted, that it shall be the 
duty of the Attorney-General of the State, as well as the 
duty of the Solicitor-General of the Superior Court where 
such violation occurs, to prosecute each violation of any 
of the provisions of this Act, when the same is reported 
to him by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. If the 
Attorney-General fails or refuses to prosecute any such 
violation so reported to him by the State Registrar of Vital 
Statistics, the same shall be grounds for impeachment of 
the Attorney-General, and it shall be the duty of the State 
Registrar of Vital Statistics to institute impeachment pro­
ceedings against the Attorney-General in such ease.

Section 22. Be it further enacted, that this Act shall 
be effective immediately upon its passage and approval 
by the Governor of the State.

Section 23. Be it further enacted, that all laws and parts 
of laws in conflict with this Act be and the same are hereby 
repealed.

Approved August 20, 1927.



26

Indiana (Burns), Statutes, 1933

Section 44-104. Void marriages.— The following mar­
riages are declared void :

First. When either party had a wife or husband living 
at the time of such marriage.

Second. When one of the parties is a white person and 
the other possessed of one-eighth or more of negro blood.

Third. When either party is insane or idiotic at the 
time of such marriage.

Kentucky, Revised Statutes, 1942

Section 276.440 [795; 796; 799; 801] Separate coaches 
or compartments for white and colored passengers.

(1) Every company operating railroad cars or coaches 
on any railroad line within this state, and every railroad 
company doing business in this state upon lines of railroad 
leased or wholly or partly owned by it, shall furnish sepa­
rate coaches or compartments for the transportation of 
the white and colored passengers on its lines of railroad. 
Where separate compartments are used, the compartments 
shall be separated by a good and substantial partition, with 
a door therein. Each separate coach or compartment shall 
bear, in some conspicuous place, appropriate words in plain 
letters indicating the race for which it is set apart. The 
company shall make no difference or discrimination in the 
quality, convenience or accommodations in the coaches or 
compartments set apart for white and colored passengers.

(2) The conductor or manager of each train carrying 
passengers shall assign each white or colored passenger to 
his respective coach or compartment. If any passenger re­
fuses to occupy the coach or compartment to which he is 
assigned, the conductor or manager may refuse to carry 
such passenger on his train, and may put such passenger

•off the train. Neither the conductor, manager nor railroad 
company shall be liable for damages for refusing to carry 
such passenger or putting him off the train.



27

(3) This section does not apply to the transportation 
of employes of railroads, or of nurses in charge of other 
persons, or of officers in charge of prisoners, nor does it 
apply to the transportation of passengers in any caboose 
car attached to a freight train.

Kentucky, Statutes (Carroll), 1930

Section 801. Persons to whom act not applicable.—The 
provisions of this act shall not apply to employees of rail­
roads or persons employed as nurses, or officers in charge 
or prisoners nor shall the same apply to the transporta­
tion of passengers in any caboose car attached to a freight 
train.

Louisiana, General Statutes (Dari), 1939

Section 5307. Separate accommodations for white and 
colored races.—All bus companies, corporations, partner­
ships, persons or associations of persons carrying passen­
gers for hire in their busses, carriages or vehicles in this 
state shall provide equal but separate accommodations for 
the white and colored races by designating separate seats 
or compartments so as to secure separate accommodations 
for the white and colored races; no person or persons shall 
be permitted to occupy seats or compartments other than 
the ones assigned to them on account of the race they be­
long to.

Section 5308. Violation by passenger or operator—Pen­
alty.—The person in charge of such busses, carriages or 
vehicles shall have power and is hereby required to assign 
each passenger to a seat or compartment used for the race to 
which such passenger belongs; any passenger insisting upon 
going into a seat or compartment to which by race he or she 
does not belong, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dol­
lars ($25.00) or in lieu thereof, be imprisoned for the period 
of not more than thirty days in the parish prison, and any 
person in charge or officer of any bus, carriage or vehicle



28

insisting on assigning a person to a seat or compartment 
other than the one set aside for the race to which said pas­
senger belongs, shall be liable to a line of twenty-live dol­
lars ($25.00), or in lien thereof to imprisonment for a period 
of not more than thirty days in the parish prison; and 
should any passenger refuse to occupy the seat or compart­
ment to which he or she is assigned by the person in charge 
or officer of such bus, carriage or vehicle, said person in 
charge or officer shall have the power to refuse to carry 
such passenger on his car or cars, and for such refusal 
neither he nor the bus company, corporation, partnership, 
person or association of persons which he represents shall 
be held for damages in any of the courts in this state.

Section 5309. Violation by companies and officers— 
Penalty.—All officers and directors of bus companies, cor­
porations, partnerships, persons or associations carrying 
persons for hire over the public highways of the state, who 
shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions and 
requirements of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde­
meanor and shall, upon conviction before any court of com­
petent Jurisdiction, be lined not less than fifty dollars 
($50.00), nor more than three hundred dollars ($300.00), 
or be imprisoned in the parish Jail for not less than fen 
days nor more than sixty days, or both fined and impris­
oned at the discretion of the court.

Section 8130. Accommodations for white and colored 
races on trains—Provision—Use.—All railway companies 
carrying passengers in their coaches in this state, shall pro­
vide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and 
colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches 
for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger 
coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommoda­
tions ; provided, that this section shall not be construed to 
apply to street railroads. No person or persons, shall be 
permitted to occupy seats in coaches, other than, the ones, 
assigned, to them on account of the race they belong to.

Section 8131. Assignment of compartments—Enforce­
ment—Penalties.—The officers of such passenger trains



29

shall have power and are hereby required to assign each 
passenger to the coach or compartment used for the race 
to which such passenger belongs; any passenger insisting 
on going into a coach or compartment to which by race he 
does not belong, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dol­
lars ($25.00), or in lieu thereof to imprisonment for a 
period o f  not more than twenty (20) days in the parish 
prison, and any officer of any railroad insisting on assign­
ing a passenger to a coach or compartment other than the 
one set aside for the race to which said passenger belongs 
shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), or 
in lieu thereof to imprisonment for a period of not more 
than twenty (20) days in the parish prison; and should any 
passenger refuse to occupy the coach or compartment to 
which he or she is assigned by the officer of such railway; 
said officer shall have power to refuse to carry such pas­
senger on his train, and for such refusal neither he nor the 
railway company which he represents shall be liable for 
damages in any of the courts of this state.

Section 8132. Disobedience of law by railroad em­
ployees—Penalties—Posting of Law—Limits on applica­
tion of law.—All officers and directors of railway companies 
that shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions 
and requirements of this act shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor and shall upon conviction before any court 
of competent jurisdiction be fined not less than one hun­
dred dollars ($100.00) nor more than five hundred dollars 
($500.00) ; and any conductor or other employees of such 
passenger train, having charge of the same, who shall re­
fuse or neglect to carry out the provisions of this act shall 
on conviction be fined not less than twenty-five dollars 
($25.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each of­
fense. All railroad corporations carrying passengers in 
this state other than street railroads shall keep this law 
posted up in a conspicuous place in each passenger coach 
and ticket office; provided that nothing in this act shall be 
construed as applying to nurses attending children of 
the other race; or prisoners in charge of sheriffs or their 
deputies, or other officers.



30

Section 8188. Accommodations for white and colored 
races on street cars—Provision—Use.—All street railway 
companies carrying passengers in their cars in this state 
shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the 
white and colored races by providing two or more cars or 
by dividing their cars by wooden or wire screen partitions 
so as to secure separate accommodations for the white and 
colored races, no person or persons shall be permitted to 
occupy seats in cars or compartments other than the ones 
assigned to them on account of the race they belong to.

Section 8189. Assignment of compartments—Enforce­
ment—Penalties.— The officers of such street cars shall 
have power and are hereby required to assign each passen­
ger to the car or compartment used for the race to which 
such passenger belongs; any passenger insisting upon going 
into a car or compartment to which by race he or she does 
not belong shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars 
($25.00), or in lieu thereof be imprisoned for a period of 
not more than thirty (30) days in the parish prison, and 
any officer of any street railway insisting on assigning a 
passenger to a car or compartment other than the one set 
aside for the race to which said passenger belongs, shall 
be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or in lieu 
thereof, to imprisonment for a period or not more than 
thirty (30) days in the parish prison; and should any pas­
senger refuse to occupy the car or compartment to which 
he or she is assigned by the officer of such street railway, 
said officer shall have the power to refuse to carry such 
passenger on his car or cars, and for such refusal neither 
he nor the street railway company which he represents 
shall be liable for damages in any of the courts of this state.

Criminal Code (Dart), 1932

Section 1128. Concubinage, white and colored per­
sons—Penalty.— Concubinage between a person of the Cau­
casian or white race and a person of the colored or black 
race is hereby made a felony, and whoever shall be con­
victed thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, shall



31

for eacli offense be sentenced to imprisonment at the dis­
cretion of the court for a term of not less than one month 
nor more than one year with or without hard labor.

Section 1129. Proof of violation of act—Concubinage 
defined.—Living together or cohabitation of persons of the 
Caucasian and of the colored races shall be proof of the 
violation of the provisions of Section 1 of this act. For the 
purpose of this act, concubinage is hereby defined to be the 
unlawful cohabitation of persons of the Caucasian and of 
the colored races whether open or secret.

Section 1130. Charging grand jury concerning act.—■ 
It shall be the duty of the judges of the several district 
courts of this state to specially charge the grand juries 
upon this act.

Maryland, Code (Flack), 1939 Article 27

Section 445. All marriages between a white person and 
a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro 
descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a 
white person and a member of the Malay race or between 
a negro and a member of the Malay race, or between a per­
son of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and 
a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and 
shall be void; and any person violating the provisions of 
this Section shall be deemed guilty of an infamous crime, 
and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less 
than eighteen months nor more than ten years; provided, 
however, that the provisions of this Section shall not apply 
to marriages between white persons and members of the 
Malay race, or between negroes and members of the Malay 
race, or between persons of negro descent, to the third 
generation, inclusive, and members of the Malay race, ex­
isting prior to June 1, 1935.

Section 510. All railroad companies and corporations, 
and all persons running or operating cars or coaches by 
steam on any railroad line or track in the State of Mary­
land, for the transportation of passengers, are hereby re­



32

quired to provide separate cars or coaches for the travel 
and transportation of the white and colored passengers on 
their respective lines of railroad; and each compartment 
of a new car or coach, divided by a good and substantial 
partition, with a door or place of exit from each division, 
shall be deemed a separate car or coach within the meaning 
of this section, and each separate car, coach or compart­
ment shall bear in some conspicuous place appropriate 
words, in plain letters, indicating whether it is set apart 
for white or colored passengers.

Section 511. The railroad companies and corporations 
and persons aforesaid shall make no difference or discrim­
ination in quality of or convenience or accommodation in 
the cars, coaches or compartments set apart for white and 
colored passengers.

Section 512. Any railroad company or corporation or 
person that shall fail, refuse or neglect to comply with the 
provisions of Sections 510 and 511 shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and, upon indictment and conviction 
thereof, shall be fined not less than three hundred dollars 
nor more than one hundred dollars for each offense.

Section 513. The conductors and managers on all rail­
roads shall have power and are hereby required to assign 
to each white or colored passenger his or her respective 
ear, coach or compartment, and, should any passenger re­
fuse to occupy the car, coach or compartment to which he 
or she may be assigned by the conductor or managers, shall 
have the right to refuse to carry such passenger on his 
train, and may put such passenger off his train, and for 
such refusal or putting off the train neither the conductor, 
manager nor railroad company or corporation, or person 
owning or operating the same shall be liable for damages 
in any court; and the passenger so refusing to occupy the 
car, coach or compartment to which he or she may -be as­
signed by the conductor or manager shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and, on indictment and conviction there­
of, shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars, or be confined in jail not less than thirty days, 
or both, in the discretion of the court, for each offense.



33

Section 514. Any conductor or manager on any railroad 
who shall fail or refuse to perform the duties imposed upon 
him by Section 513 shall be deemed guilty of a misde­
meanor, and, upon indictment and conviction thereof, shall 
be fined not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than 
fifty dollars for each offense.

Section 515. The following words contained in Section 
510, to wit: “ and each compartment of a car or coach di­
vided by a good substantial partition, by a door or place of 
exit from each division shall be deemed a separate car or 
coach within the meaning of this section,”  shall not apply 
to the counties of Prince George’s, Charles, St. Mary’s, 
Calvert and Annie Arundel, so that in said counties there 
shall be separate cars or coaches for the travel and trans­
portation of the white and colored passengers on the re­
spective lines of railroad, and a car divided by a compart­
ment shall not be deemed a separate car or coach within 
the meaning of this section, but a combination car, not over 
one-third of which is used for baggage or mail, for the pur­
poses of this section shall be deemed a separate car, and 
each separate car or coach shall have in some conspicuous 
place, both outside and inside, appropriate words and plain 
letters indicating whether it is set apart for white or col­
ored passengers; provided, this section shall not apply to 
trains making no scheduled intermediate service stops be­
tween their termini.

Section 516. The provisions of the six preceding sec­
tions shall not apply to employes of railroads, or to per­
sons employed as nurses, or to officers in charge of pris­
oners, whether the said prisoners are white or colored, or 
both white and colored, or to the prisoners in their custody, 
nor shall the same apply to the transportation in any 
caboose car attached to a freight train, nor to parlor nor 
sleeping cars, nor through express trains that do no local 
business.

Section 517. It shall be the duty of any captain, purser 
or other officer in command of any steamboat carrying pas­
sengers and plying in the waters within the jurisdiction of 
the State of Maryland to assign white and colored passen­



34

gers on said boats to the respective locations they are to 
occupy as passengers while on said boat; and it shall be 
the duty of said captain, purser or other officer in command 
to separate, as far as the construction of his boat and due 
consideration for the comfort of the passengers will per­
mit, the white and colored passengers on said boat in the 
sitting, sleeping and eating apartments; provided, however, 
that no discrimination shall be made in the quality and con­
venience of accommodation afforded passengers in said 
locations; and provided, that this section and the two suc­
ceeding sections shall not apply to nurses or attendants 
traveling with their employers, nor to officers in charge of 
prisoners, whether the said prisoners are white or colored, 
or both white and colored, or to prisoners in their custody.

Section 518. Any captain, purser or other officer in 
command of any steamboat as aforesaid who shall refuse 
to carry out the provisions of Section 517 shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment in any court 
having jurisdiction, and conviction thereof, shall be fined 
not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than fifty 
dollars for each offense.

Section ol9. Any passenger traveling on any steamboat 
plying in the waters within the jurisdiction of this State 
wh°_ shall wilfully refuse to occupy the location, whether 
of sitting, sleeping or eating, set apart or assigned by the 
captain, purser or other officer in command of such boat, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on indict­
ment in any court having jurisdiction, and conviction there­
of, shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars, or be confined in jail not less than thirty days, 
in the discretion of the court, for each offense; and such 
passenger may be ejected from the said boat by the officers 
thereof at any wharf or landing place of said boat, and, if 
necessary, such assistance may be invoked by the person in 
charge of said boat as he may require to eject such passen­
ger; and provided, that in case of such ejectment neither 
the captain nor other person in charge of such boat, nor the 
steamboat company or corporation or person owning or 
operating such boat shall not be liable in damages in any 
court.



35

Section 520. It shall be the duty of every person, firm 
or corporation owning and operating steamboats on the 
Chesapeake Bay, between the city of Baltimore and points 
on said bay or its tributaries, to provide separate toilet or 
retiring rooms, and separate sleeping cabins on their re­
spective steamboats, on or before the first day of July, in 
the year nineteen hundred and eight, for white and colored 
passengers, under a penalty of a fine of fifty dollars for 
each and every day said steamboats may be operated upon 
the waters aforesaid in violation of this section, and the 
provisions of the four preceding sections shall apply in the 
assigning of passengers to the use of the toilet, or retiring- 
rooms, and the sleeping quarters set apart for the respec­
tive white and colored passenger^.

Mississippi, Code, 1942

Section 459. Unlawful marriages—between white per­
son and negro or Mongolian prohibited.'—The marriage of 
a white person and a negro or mulatto or person who shall 
have one-eightli or more of negro blood, or with a Mon­
golian or a person who shall have one-eighth or more of 
Mongolian blood, shall be unlawful, and such marriage shall 
be unlawful and void; and any party thereto, on conviction, 
shall be punished as for marriage within the degrees pro­
hibited by the last two sections; and any attempt to evade 
this and the two preceding sections by marrying out of this 
state and returning to it shall be within them.

Section 7784. Equal but separate accommodations for 
the races.—Every railroad carrying passengers in this state 
shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the 
white and colored races by providing two or more passen­
ger cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the pas­
senger cars by a partition to secure separate accommoda­
tion; and the conductor of such passenger train shall have 
power, and is required, to assign each passenger to the car, 
or the compartment of a car, used for the race to which 
such passenger belongs; and should any passenger refuse 
to occupy the car to which he or she is assigned by the con­



36

ductor, the conductor shall have power to refuse to carry 
such passenger on the train, and for such refusal neither 
he nor the railroad company shall be liable for damages in 
any court.

Section 7785. Separate accommodations for races—ap­
plicable to street railways.-—All persons or corporations 
operating street railways, carrying passengers in their cars 
in this state, and every common carrier by motor vehicle as 
defined by chapter 148 of the laws of 1938, carrying pas­
sengers in this state shall provide equal, but separate, ac­
commodations for the white and colored races, by dividing 
such passenger bus or street cars by a partition to secure 
separate accommodations; and the operator of such pas­
senger buses shall have power, and is required, to assign 
each passenger to the compartment of a bus used for the 
race to which such passenger belongs; and should any pas­
senger refuse to occupy the compartment to which he or 
she is assigned by the operator, the operator shall have 
power to refuse to carry such passenger on the bus, and 
for such refusal neither he nor the bus company, nor street 
railway company, shall be liable for damages in any court. 
Provided, however, that such partition of compartments 
may be adjustable and movable.

Section 7786. Passengers required to occupy compart­
ments to which they are assigned.—Officers of such street 
cars and motor vehicles as defined by chapter 148 of the 
laws of 1938 [Title 37, ch. 4] shall have power and are re­
quired to assign each passenger to the car or compartment 
used for the race to which such passenger belongs. Any 
passenger insisting upon going into a car or compartment 
to which by race he or she does not belong shall be liable 
to a fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), or in lieu thereof 
be imprisoned for a period of not more than thirty (30) 
days in the county jail; and any officer of any street rail­
way, or motor vehicle, as herein defined, insisting on as­
signing a passenger to a car or compartment other than 
the one set aside for the race to which said passenger be­
longs shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), 
or in lieu thereof, to imprisonment for a period of not more



37

than thirty (30) days in the county jail; and should any 
passenger refuse to occupy the car or compartment to 
which he or she is assigned by the officer of such street rail­
way, or motor vehicle, said officer shall have power to re­
fuse to carry such passenger on his car or cars, and for such 
refusal neither he nor the street railway company, or com­
mon carrier by motor vehicle, which he represents shall be 
liable for damages in any court.

Constitution

Section 263. The marriage of a white person with a 
negro or mulatto, or person who shall have one-eighth or 
more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void.

Missouri, Revised Statutes, 1939

Section 4651. Illegal marriages.—No person having one- 
eighth part or more of negro blood shall be permitted to 
marry any white person, nor shall any white person be 
permitted to marry any negro or person having one-eighth 
part or more or negro blood; and every person who shall 
knowingly marry in violation of the provisions of this sec­
tion shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment 
in the penitentiary for two years, or by fine not less than 
one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail 
not less than three months, or by both such fine and im­
prisonment; and the jury trying any such case may de­
termine the proportion of negro blood in any party to such 
marriage from the appearance of such person. E. S. 1929, 
Section 4263.

North Carolina, Constitution

Section 8. Intermarriage of whites and negroes pro­
hibited.—All marriages between a white person and a 
negro, or between a white person and a person of negro 
descent to the third generation, inclusive, are hereby for­
ever prohibited. (Convention 1875.)



38

North Carolina, General Statutes, 1943

Section 14-181. Miscegenation.—All marriages between 
a white person and a negro, or between a white person and 
a person of negro descent to the third generation inclusive, 
are forever prohibited, and shall be void. Any person vio­
lating this section shall be guilty of an infamous crime, and 
shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail or 
state’s prison for not less than four months nor more than 
ten years, and may also be fined, in the discretion of the 
court.

Section 51-3. Want of capacity; void and voidable mar­
riages.—All marriages between a white person and a negro 
or indian, or between a white person and person of negro 
or indian descent to the third generation, inclusive, or be­
tween a Cherokee indian of Robeson county and a negro, 
or between a Cherokee indian of Robeson county and a per­
son of negro descent to the third generation, inclusive, or 
between any two persons nearer of kin than first cousins, 
or between a male person under sixteen years of age and 
any female, or between a female person under fourteen 
years of age and any male, or between persons either of 
whom has a husband or wife living at the time of such mar­
riage, or between persons either of whom is at the time 
physically impotent, or is incapable of contracting from 
want of will or understanding, shall'be void: Provided, 
double first cousins may not marry; and Provided further, 
that no marriage followed by cohabitation and the birth 
of issue shall be declared void after the death of either of 
the parties for any of the causes stated in this section, ex­
cept for that one of the parties was a white person and the 
other a negro or indian, or of negro or-indian descent to 
the third generation, inclusive, and for bigamy.

Section 60-94. Separate accommodations for different 
races.—All railroad and steamboat companies engaged as 
common carriers in the transportation of passengers for 
hire, other than street railways, shall provide separate but 
equal accommodations for the white and colored races at 
passenger stations or waiting-rooms, and also on all trains



39

and steamboats carrying passengers. Such accommoda­
tions may be furnished by railroad companies either by 
separate passenger cars or by compartments in passenger 
cars, which shall be provided by the railroads under the 
supervision and direction of the utilities commission: Pro­
vided, that this shall not apply to relief trains in cases of 
accident, to Pullman or sleeping cars, or through express 
trains that do not stop at all stations and are not used 
ordinarily for traveling from station to station, to negro 
servants in attendance on their employers, to officers or 
guards transporting prisoners, nor to prisoners so trans­
ported.

Section 60-95. Certain carriers may be exempted from 
requirement.— The utilities commission is hereby author­
ized to exempt from the provisions of Section 60-94 steam­
boats, branch lines and narrow-gauge railroads and mixed 
trains carrying both freight and passengers, if in its judg­
ment the enforcement of the same be unnecessary to secure 
the comfort of passengers by reason of the light volume 
of passenger traffic, or the small number of colored pas­
senger travelers on such steamboats, narrow-gauge rail­
roads, branch lines or mixed trains.

Section 60-96. Use of same coach in emergencies.— 
When any coach or compartment car for either race shall 
be completely filled at a station where no extra coach or 
car can be had, and the increased number of passengers 
could not be foreseen, the conductor in charge of such train 
may assign and set apart a portion of a car or compart­
ment assigned for passengers of one race to passengers of 
the other race.

Section 60-97. Penalty for failing to provide separate 
coaches.—-Any railroad or steamboat company failing to 
comply in good faith with the provisions of Sections 60-94 
to 60-96 shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars 
per day, to be recovered in an action brought against such 
company by any passenger on any train or boat of any rail­
road or steamboat company which is required by this chap­
ter to furnish separate accommodations to the races, who 
has been furnished accommodations on such railroad train



40

or steamboat only in a ear or compartment with a person 
of a different race in violation of law.

Section 60-135. Separate accommodations for different 
races; failure to provide misdemeanor.—All street, in- 
terurban and suburban railway companies, engaged as com­
mon carriers in the transportation of passengers for hire 
in the state of North Carolina, shall provide and set apart 
so much of the front portion of each car operated by them 
as shall be necessary, for occupation by the white passen­
gers therein, and shall likewise provide and set apart so 
much of the rear part of such car as shall be necessary, for 
occupation by the colored passengers therein, and shall re­
quire as far as practicable the white and colored passen­
gers to occupy the respective parts of such car so set apart 
for each of them. The provisions of this section shall not 
apply to nurses or attendants of children or of the sick or 
infirm of a different race, while in attendance upon such 
children or such sick or infirm persons. Any officer, agent 
or other employee of any street railway company who shall 
willfully violate the provisions of this section shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined or 
imprisoned in the discretion of the court.

Section 60-136. Pasengers to take certain seats; viola­
tion of requirement misdemeanor.—Any white person en­
tering a street car or other passenger vehicle or motor bus 
for the purpose of becoming a passenger therein shall, in 
order to carry out the purposes of Section 60-135, occupy 
the first vacant seat or unoccupied space nearest the front 
thereof, and any colored person entering a street car or 
other passenger vehicle or motor bus for a like purpose 
shall occupy the first vacant seat or unoccupied space near­
est the rear end thereof, provided, however, that no con­
tiguous seat on the same bench shall be occupied by white 
and colored passengers at the same time, unless and until 
all the other seats in the car have been occupied. Upon re­
quest of the person in charge of the street car or other pas­
senger vehicle or motor bus, and when necessary in order 
to carry out the purpose of providing separate seats for 
white and colored passengers, it shall be the duty of any



41

white person to move to any unoccupied seat toward or in 
the front of the car, vehicle or bus, and the duty of any 
colored person to move to any unoccupied seat toward or 
in the rear thereof, and the failure of any such person to 
so move shall constitute prima facie evidence of an intent 
to violate this section. Any person violating the provisions 
of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon 
conviction, shall be fined not more than fifty dollars or im­
prisoned not exceeding thirty days. Any such person may 
also be ejected from the car, vehicle or bus by the person 
charged with the operation thereof. Each person now or 
hereafter charged with the operation of any such street 
car, passenger vehicle or motor bus is hereby invested with 
police powers and authority to carry out the provisions of 
this section.

Section 60-137. No liability for mistake in assigning 
passengers to wrong seat.—No street, suburban or interur- 
ban railway company, its agents, servants or employees, 
shall be liable to any person on account of any mistake in 
the designation of any passenger to a seat or part of a ear 
set apart for passengers of the other race.

Section 62-109. Regulatory powers of commission; 
separation of races.— The commission is hereby vested with 
power and authority to supervise and regulate every motor 
vehicle carrier under this article; to make or approve the 
rates, fares, charges, classifications, rules and regulations 
for service and safety of operation and the checking of 
baggage of each such motor vehicle carrier; to supervise 
the operation of union passenger stations in any manner 
necessary to promote harmony among the operators and 
efficiency of service to the traveling public; to fix and pre­
scribe the speed limit, which may be less but shall not be 
greater than that prescribed by law; to regulate the ac­
counts and to require the filing of annual and other reports 
and of other data by such motor vehicle carriers; to require 
the increase of equipment capacity to meet public con­
venience and necessity; and to supervise and regulate motor 
vehicle carriers in all other matters affecting the relation­
ship between such carriers and the traveling and shipping 
public. The commission shall have power and authority,



42

by general order or otherwise, to prescribe rules and regu­
lations applicable to any and all motor vehicle carriers, 
and the said commission is authorized, directed and em­
powered, whenever the public convenience and necessity 
may require, to increase, or decrease, or suspend tempo­
rarily the service upon any route for which a franchise 
certificate has been issued; and is hereby authorized, em­
powered, and directed to see that such rules and regula­
tions and all, and singularly, the provisions of this article 
are enforced. The commission shall require any motor ve­
hicle carrier operating on a franchise granted by the utilities 
commission and coming within the provisions of this ar­
ticle, if engaged in the transportation of both white and 
colored passengers for hire, to provide separate but equal 
accommodations for the white and colored races at pas­
senger stations or waiting rooms where the carrier re­
ceives passengers of both races and/or on all busses or 
motor vehicles operating on a route or routes over which 
such carrier transports passengers of both races. Such 
accommodations may be furnished either by separate motor 
vehicles or by equal accommodations in motor vehicles. 
Provided that any requirement as to separate accommoda­
tion for the races shall not apply to specially chartered 
motored vehicles or to negro servants and attendants on 
their employers, or to officers or guards transporting pris­
oners; and provided that operators of motor vehicles or 
bus lines or taxicabs engaged in the transportation of pas­
sengers of one race only shall not be required to provide 
any accommodations for the other race, and provided that 
an operator shall not be required to furnish any accommo­
dations to the other race over a line or route where he has 
undertaken and is engaged in the transportation of passen­
gers of only one race, and provided, further, that nothing 
contained in this section shall be construed to declare op­
erators of busses and/or taxicabs common carriers.

Section 115-2. Separation of races.—The children of 
the white race and the children of the colored race shall be 
taught in separate public schools, but there shall be no dis­
crimination in favor of or to the prejudice of either race. 
All white children shall be taught in the public schools pro­



43

vided for the white race, and all colored children shall be 
taught in the public schools provided for the colored race; 
but no child with negro blood, or what is generally known 
as Croatan Indian blood, in his veins, shall attend a school 
for the white race, and no such child shall be considered a 
white child. The descendants of the Croatan Indians, now 
living in Robeson, Sampson, and Richmond counties, shall 
have separate schools for their children.

North Dakota, Revised Code, 1943

Section 14-0304. Marriage Between White Person and 
Negro Person Void; Penalty. No white person residing or 
being in this state shall intermarry with any negro person. 
Every such marriage shall be void. Each of the contracting 
parties, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprison­
ment in the penitentiary for a term of not more than ten 
years, or by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars, 
or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Section 14-0305. Definition of a Negro Person. Every 
person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood 
shall be deemed and held to be a colored person or negro.

Oklahoma, Constitution

A rticle X III
Section 3. Separate schools for white and colored chil­

dren.-—Separate schools for white and colored children with 
like accommodation shall be provided by the Legislature 
and impartially maintained. The term “ colored children,”  
as used in this section, shall be construed to mean children 
of African descent. The term “ white children”  shall in­
clude all other children.

A rticle X X III
Section 11. Colored race—-Negro race—White race.— 

Wherever in this Constitution and laws of this State, the



44

word or words, “ colored”  or “ colored race,”  “ negro”  or 
“ negro race,”  are used, the same shall be construed to mean 
or apply to all persons of African descent. The term “ white 
race”  shall include all other persons.

Oklahoma, Statutes, Annotated

T itle 13
Section 181. Separate coaches or compartments.— 

Every railway company, urban or suburban car company, 
street car or interurban car, railway company, lessee, man­
ager or receiver thereof, doing business in this State, as a 
common carrier of passengers for hire shall provide sep­
arate coaches or compartments, as hereinafter provided, 
for the accommodation of the white and negro races, which 
separate coaches or cars shall be equal in all points of com­
fort and convenience. (E. L. 1910, Section 860.)

Section 182. Separate waiting rooms.—-Every railroad 
company, street car company, urban, suburban, or inter­
urban car company shall provide for and maintain separate 
waiting rooms at all their passenger depots for the accom­
modation of the white and negro races, which separate wait­
ing rooms shall be equal in all points of comfort and con­
venience. Each waiting room shall bear in a conspicuous 
place words in plain letters indicating the race for which 
it is set apart. It shall be unlawful for any person to use, 
occupy or to remain in any waiting room, toilet room, or at 
any water tank in any passenger depot in this State, set 
apart to a race to which he does not belong. (E. L. 1910, 
Section 861.)

Section 183. Negro defined.—The term negro, as used 
herein, includes every person of African descent, as defined 
by the Constitution. (E. L. 1910, Section 862.)

Section 184. Separate coach and separate compartment 
defined.—Each compartment of a railway coach, divided by 
a good and substantial wooden partition, with a door



45

therein shall be deemed a separate coach within the mean­
ing of this Article, and each separate coach shall bear in 
some conspicuous place appropriate words in plain letters 
indicating the race for which it is set apart; and each com­
partment of an urban or suburban car company, inter- 
urban car or railway company, or street, car company, 
divided by a board or marker, placed in a conspicuous place, 
bearing appropriate words in plain letters, indicating the 
race for which it is set apart, shall be sufficient as a sep­
arate compartment within the meaning of this Article. 
(R. L. 1910, Section 863.)

Section 185. Penalty—Separate offenses.—Any railway 
company, street car company, urban or suburban car com­
pany, or interurban car or railway company, lessee, man­
ager or receiver thereof, which shall fail to provide its cars 
bearing passengers, with separate coaches or compartments 
as above provided, or fail to provide and maintain separate 
waiting rooms as provided herein, shall be liable for each 
and every failure to a penalty of not less than one hundred 
nor more than one thousand dollars, to be recovered by 
suit in the name of the State, in any court of competent 
jurisdiction, and each trip run with such railway train, 
street car, urban, suburban or interuban car without such 
separate coach or compartment shall be deemed a separate 
offense. (R. L. 1910, Section 864.)

Section 186. Passengers violating statute—Penalty— 
Refusal to carry—Ejection.—If any passenger upon a rail­
way train, street car, urban, suburban or interurban car 
provided with separate coaches or compartments as above 
provided shall ride in any coach or compartment not desig­
nated for his race, after having been forbidden to do so 
by the conductor in charge of the train or ear, or shall re­
main in any waiting room not set apart for the race to 
which he belongs, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
upon conviction shall be fined not less than five nor more 
than twenty-five dollars.

Should any passenger refuse to occupy the coach or 
compartment or room to which he or she is assigned by the



46

officer of such railway company, said officer shall have the 
power to refuse to carry such passenger on his train, and 
should any passenger or any other person not a passenger, 
for the purpose of occupying or waiting in such sitting or 
waiting room not assigned to his or her race, enter said 
room, said agent shall have the power and it is made his 
duty to eject such person from such room, and for such 
neither they nor the railroad company which they represent 
shall be liable for damages, in any of the courts of this State. 
(R. L. 1910, Section 865.)

Section 187. Exceptions to application of act.—The provi­
sions of this act shall not be so construed as to extend to of­
ficers haying in custody any person or persons, or employees 
upon trains or cars in the discharge of their duties, nor shall 
it be construed to apply to such freight trains as carry pas­
sengers in cabooses, provided that nothing herein contained 
shall be construed to prevent railway companies in this state 
from hauling sleeping cars or dining cars or chair cars at­
tached to their trains for use exclusively for either white or 
negro passengers separately but not jointly and, provided 
further, that the Corporation Commission shall have power 
and authority to exempt any station or depot from the re­
quirements of this act, for such period of time as may be 
ordered in any city or town where no negroes reside.

Section 189. Extra or special trains.—Nothing in this 
Article shall be construed to prevent the running of extra or 
special trains or cars for the exclusive accommodation of 
either white or negro passengers, if the regular trains or 
cars are operated as required by this Act and upon regular 
schedule. (R. L. 1910, Section 868.)

T itle 43

Section 12. Miscegenation prohibited.—The marriage of 
any person of African descent, as defined by the Constitu­
tion of this State, to any person not of African descent, or 
the marriage of any person not of African descent to any 
person of African descent, shall be unlawful and is hereby 
prohibited within this State. (R. L. 1910, Section 3894.)



47

T itle 47

Section 201. Carriers to provide separate compart­
ments.—Every bus or transportation company, corpora­
tion, individual, lessee, manager or receiver thereof, doing 
business in this state as a common carrier of passengers 
for hire between fixed termini, shall provide separate com­
partments, as hereinafter provided, for the accommodation 
of the white and negro races, which separate compartments 
shall be equal in all points of comfort and convenience. 
(Laws 1931, p. 184 [S. B. No. 21], Section 1.)

Section 202. Separate waiting rooms at stations or de­
pots.—Every bus or transportation company, corporation, 
individual, lessee, manager or receiver thereof, doing busi­
ness in this state as a common carrier between fixed termini 
shall provide for and maintain separate waiting rooms at 
their stations or depots for the accommodation of white and 
negro races, which separate waiting rooms shall be equal in 
all points of comfort and convenience. Each waiting room 
shall bear in a conspicuous place words in plain letters in­
dicating the race for which it is set apart. It shall be un­
lawful for any person to use, occupy, or to remain in any 
waiting room, toilet room, or in any depot or station in this 
state set apart to the race to which he does not belong. 
(Laws 1931, p. 184 [S. B. No. 21], Section 2.)

Section 203. Persons regarded as negroes.-—The term 
“ negro,”  as used herein includes every person of African 
descent, as defined by the Constitution. (Laws 1931, p. 185 
[S. B. No. 21], Section 3.)

Section 204. Separate compartment, what constitutes. 
—Each compartment of a bus or motor vehicle divided by, 
or indicated by a board or marker placed in a conspicuous 
place bearing words in plain letters indicating the race for 
which it is set apart shall be deemed a separate compart­
ment within the meaning of this Act. (Laws 1931, p. 185 
[S. B. No. 21], Section 4.)



48

Section 205. Motor vehicle defined.—The term “  motor 
vehicle”  when used in this Act shall mean any automobile, 
motor bus or any other self propelled vehicle carrying pas­
sengers for hire between fixed termini not operated or 
driven upon fixed rails, or track. (Laws 1931, p. 185 [S. B. 
No. 21], Section 5.)

Section 206. Failure to comply with act—Punishment.
Any bus company, motor vehicle company, transporta­

tion company, lessee, manager or receiver thereof, who 
shall fail to provide its vehicles under the provisions of 
this Act, with separate coaches or compartments, as above 
provided, or fail to provide and maintain separate wait­
ing rooms as provided herein, shall be liable for each and 
every failure to a penalty of not less than One Hundred 
($100.00) Dollars, nor more than Five Hundred ($500.00) 
Dollars, to be recovered by suit in the name of the state in 
any court of competent jurisdiction, and each trip run with 
such vehicle or motor bus, as defined herein, without any 
separate compartment shall be deemed a separate and dis­
tinct offense. (Laws 1931, p. 185 [S. B. No. 21], Sec­
tion 6.)

Section 207. Violations by passengers—Refusal to 
carry—Ejection from waiting room.—If any passenger 
upon motor bus or vehicle, as defined in this Act, provided 
with separate compartment as above provided, shall ride 
in any compartment not designated for his race after hav­
ing been forbidden to do so by the driver or person in 
charge of said vehicle or bus, or shall remain in any wait­
ing room,not set apart for the race to which he belongs, he 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction 
thereof shall be fined not less than Ten ($10.00) Dollars 
nor more than Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars. Should any 
passenger refuse to occupy the compartment or room to 
which he is assigned by the officer or employee of such 
motor vehicle or bus company, said officer or employee



49

shall have the power and the authority to refuse to carry 
said passenger on his motor vehicle, and should any pas­
senger or any other person not a passenger, for the pur­
pose of occupying or waiting in such waiting room not as­
signed to his race, enter said room, said agent or employee 
shall have the power and it is made his duty to eject such 
person from such room, and for such neither they nor the 
motor vehicle or bus company which they represent shall 
be liable for damage in any of the courts of this state. 
(Laws 1931, p. 185 [S. B. No. 21], Section 7.)

Section 208. Persons excepted from application of this 
Act.—The provisions of this Act shall not be so construed 
as to extend to officers having in custody any person or 
persons, or employees, upon motor vehicles in the discharge 
of their duties. (Laws 1931, p. 186 [S. B. No. 21], Sec­
tion 8.)

Section 209. Exclusion from compartment or removal 
from vehicle by driver.—Drivers or persons in charge of 
any motor bus or vehicle provided with separate compart­
ments shall have the authority to refuse any passenger ad­
mittance to any compartment in which they are not entitled 
to ride under the provisions of this Act, and the person 
in charge of such motor vehicle or bus shall have author­
ity, and it shall be his duty to remove from said motor 
vehicle any passenger not entitled to ride therein under the 
provisions of this Act and upon refusal to do so shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined 
in a sum of not less than Ten ($10.00) Dollars nor more 
than Two Hundred and Fifty ($250.00) Dollars, and the 
company, corporation, individual, manager, agent, em­
ployee or other officer, shall not be held for damages 
for any lawful removal of a passenger as herein provided. 
(Laws 1931, p. 186 [S. B. No. 21], Section 9.)



50

Section 210. Disposition of fines.—All fines collected 
under the provisions of this Act shall go to the Court fund 
of the county in which conviction is had. (Laws 1931, p. 
186 [S. B. No. 21], Section 10.)

T itle 70
Section 452. Definition of terms.—The term “ colored,”  

as used in the preceding section shall be construed to mean 
all persons of African descent who possess any quantum 
of negro blood, and the term “ white”  shall include all other 
persons. The term “ public school,”  within the meaning 
of this article, shall include all schools provided for, or 
maintained, in whole or in part, at public expense. (Laws 
1913, ch. 219, p. 571, art. 15, Section 2.)

Oregon, Compiled Laws, 1940

Section 23-1010. Miscegenation: Unlawfulness of inter­
marriage of races: Validity of purported marriage. Here­
after it shall not be lawful within this state for any white 
person, male or female, to intermarry with any negro, 
Chinese, or any person having one-fourth or more negro, 
Chinese, or Kanaka blood, or any person having more than 
one-half Indian blood; and all such marriages, or attempted 
marriages, shall be absolutely null and void.

South Carolina, Code, 1942

Section 8396. Separate coaches for white and co lored- 
toilet compartments.—All railroad and steam ferries and 
railroad companies engaged in this State as common car­
riers of passengers for hire, shall furnish separate coaches 
or cabins for the accommodation of white and colored pas­
sengers : provided, equal accommodations shall be supplied 
to all persons without distinction of race, color or previous 
condition, in such coaches or cabins: provided, further that 
all first class coaches and cabins shall be provided with a



51

toilet compartment at each end of such coaches or cabins; 
on one of which compartments shall be placed the word 
“ women”  and on the other compartment shall be placed 
the word “ men” ; the toilet compartment for women shall 
be provided with a hopper seat, and, in addition, either with 
seats for at least two persons, or a lavatory, as the carrier 
may elect. The public service commission of this State 
shall, at a hearing upon due notice to all railroads, steam 
ferries and railroad companies engaged in this State as 
common carriers of passengers for hire, to which this sec­
tion shall apply, determine when said carriers shall make 
the changes contemplated and provided for in this article.

Section 8399. Exceptions to sections 8396 to 8398.— The 
provisions of sections 8396 to 8398 shall not apply to nurses 
on trains, nor to narrow gauge roads, or branch lines, nor 
roads under forty miles in length, or to relief trains in case 
of accident, or to through vestibule trains not intended or 
used for local travel, nor to regular freight trains with a 
passenger coach attached for local travel, nor to officers 
or guards transporting prisoners, nor to prisoners or luna­
tics being so transported : provided, that all railroads op­
erated by steam under forty miles in length shall furnish 
separate apartments for white and colored passengers: 
provided,, further, that where said railroads under forty 
miles in length operate both a daily passenger train and a 
freight train, with or without a coach attached, said rail­
road shall be required to furnish separate apartments for 
white and colored passengers only on the said passenger 
trains: provided, also, that the provisions hereof shall not 
apply to electric railroads. Provided, further, that as to 
trains consisting of not more than one passenger car unit, 
operated principally for the accommodation of local travel, 
although operated both intrastate and interstate, and ir­
respective of the motive power used, the public service com­
mission is hereby authorized to make such modifications, 
changes and exceptions in and to the requirements of sec­
tions 8396 to 8398, inclusive, as in its best judgment may 
be feasible and reasonable in the circumstances, and the 
regulations established by the commission pursuant to this



52

authority shall constitute exceptions to the provisions of 
sections 8396 to 8398, inclusive.

Section 8530-1. Passenger motor vehicle carriers sep­
arate white and colored passengers.— (1) Eequired—pen­
alties.—All passenger motor vehicle carriers, operating in 
the State of South Carolina shall separate the white and 
colored passengers in their motor buses and set apart and 
designate in each bus or other vehicle, a portion thereof, or 
certain seats therein, to be occupied by white passengers, 
and a portion thereof, or certain seats therein, to be occu­
pied by colored passengers, and such company or corpora­
tion, person or persons that shall fail, refuse or neglect to 
comply with the provisions of this sub-section shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment and conviction, shall 
be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hun­
dred and fifty dollars for each offense.

South Carolina, Constitution

A rticle III

Section 33. Marriages of whites and negroes— sexual 
intercourse.— The marriage of a white person with a negro 
or mulatto, or person who shall have one-eighth or more of 
negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. No unmarried 
woman shall legally consent to sexual intercourse who shall 
not have attained the age of fourteen years.

Tennessee, Code (Michie), 1938

Section 5518. Separate coaches or apartments for 
white and colored races.—All railroads carrying passen­
gers in the state (other than street railroads) shall provide 
equal but separate accommodations for the white and col­
ored races, by providing two or more passenger cars for 
each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger cars by 
a partition, so as to secure separate accommodations; but 
any person may be permitted to take a nurse in the car or 
compartment set aside for such persons. This law shall



53

not apply to mixed and freight trains which only carry one 
passenger or combination passenger and baggage car, but, 
in such cases, the one passenger car so carried shall always 
be partitioned into apartments, one apartment for the 
whites and one for the colored.

Section 5519. Conductors must separate passengers.— 
The conductors of such passenger trains shall have power, 
and are required, to assign passengers to the car or com­
partments of the car when it is divided by a partition, used 
for the race to which such passengers belong, and, should 
any passenger refuse to occupy the car to which he is as­
signed by such conductor, said conductor shall have power 
to refuse to carry such passenger on his train; and, for 
such refusal, neither he nor the railroad company shall be 
liable for any damages in any court.

Section 5520. Failure of companies and conductors to 
comply; penalties.—All railroad companies that shall fail, 
refuse, or neglect to comply with the requirements of sec­
tion 5518 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined not 
less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars; 
and any conductor who shall fail, neglect, or refuse to 
carry out the provisions of this law shall be fined not less 
than twenty-five nor more than fifty dollars for each offense.

Section 5527 3079al. Portions of car to be set apart 
and designated for each race.—All persons, companies, or 
corporations operating any street car line in the state are 
required, where white and colored passengers are carried 
or transported in the same car or cars, to set apart and 
designate in each car or coach, so operated, a portion there­
of or certain seats therein to be occupied by white passen­
gers, and a portion thereof or certain seats therein to be 
occupied by colored passengers; but nothing in this article 
shall be construed to apply to nurses attending children or 
other helpless persons of the other race. (1905, eh. 150, 
sec. 1.)

Section 5528 3079a2. Printed sign to indicate cars or 
parts of cars for each race.—Large printed or painted signs 
shall be kept in a conspicuous place in the car or cars, or the 
parts thereof set apart or designated for the different races,



54

on which shall be printed or painted, if set apart or desig­
nated for the white people, and it being a car so designated 
or set apart, “ This car for white people.”  If a part of a car 
is so designated, then this sign, “ This part of car for white 
people.”  If set apart or designated for the colored race, 
this sign to be displayed in a conspicuous place as follows, 
“ This car for the colored race.”  If any part of a car is set 
apart or designated for said race, then this sign as follows, 
“ This part of the car for the colored race.”

Section 5529 3079a3. Conductor may increase or dimin­
ish space for either race, or require change of seats.—The 
conductor or other person in charge of any car or coach so 
operated upon any street car line shall have the right at 
any time, when in his judgment it may be necessary or 
proper for the comfort or convenience of passengers so to 
do, to change the said designation so as to increase or de­
crease the amount of space or seats set apart for either 
race, or he may require any passenger to change his seat 
when or so often as the change in the passengers may make 
such change necessary.

Section 5530 3079a4. Passengers to take seats assigned 
by conductor and designated for their race; refusal and re­
maining on car is a misdemeanor.—All passengers on any 
street car line shall be required to take the seats assigned 
to them, and any person refusing to do so shall leave the 
car or remaining upon the car shall be guilty of a misde­
meanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not 
to exceed twenty-five dollars; provided, no conductor shall 
assign any person or passenger to a seat except those desig­
nated or set apart for the race to which said passenger 
belongs.

Section 5531 3079a5. Failure to set apart portions of 
car for each race is a misdemeanor.—Any person, company, 
or corporation failing to set apart or designate separate 
portion of the cars operated for the separate accommoda­
tion of the white and colored passengers, as provided by 
this article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined in 
any sum not to exceed twenty-five dollars.



55

Section 5532 3079a6. Special ears for exclusive accom­
modation of either race.—Nothing in this article shall be 
construed to prevent the running of extra or special cars 
for the exclusive accommodation of either white or colored 
passengers, if the regular cars are operated as required by 
this article.

Section 8409 4186 (2437, 2437a). Whites, negroes, etc., 
not to intermarry or cohabit.— The intermarriage of white 
person with negroes, mulattoes, or persons of mixed 
blood descended from a negro, to the third generation in­
clusive, or their living together as man and wife in this 
state, is prohibited. (1822, ch. 19, sec. 1; 1870, ch. 39, sec. 
1; const., art. 11, sec. 14.)

Constitution

A rticle XI
Section 14. The intermarriage of white persons with 

negroes, mulattoes, or persons of mixed blood, descended 
from a negro to the third generation, inclusive, or their liv­
ing together as man and wife, in this State, is prohibited. 
The Legislature shall enforce this section by appropriate 
legislation.

Texas, Revised Civil Statutes (Vernon), 1936

Art. 2900. [2897-8] Separate schools.—All available 
public school funds of this State shall be appropriated in 
each county for the education alike of white and colored 
children, and impartial provisions shall be made for both 
races. No white children shall attend schools supported for 
colored children, nor shall colored children attend schools 
supported for white children. The terms “ colored race”  
and “ colored children,”  as used in this title, include all 
persons of mixed blood descended from negro ancestry. 
[Acts 1905, p. 263.]

Art. 4607. [4613] [2959] [2843] Certain intermarriages 
prohibited.—It shall not be lawful for any person of Cau­



56

casian blood or their descendants to intermarry with A fri­
cans or the descendants of Africans. If any person shall 
violate any provision of this article, such marriage shall be 
null and void. [P. D., 4670 ; P. C., 346.]

Art. 6417. [6746 to 6753] Separate coaches.—1. Every 
railway company, street car company, and interurban rail­
way company, lessee, manager, or receiver thereof, doing 
business in this State as a common carrier of passengers 
for hire, shall provide separate coaches or compartments, 
as hereinafter provided, for the accommodation of white 
and negro passengers, which separate coaches or compart­
ments shall be equal in all points of comfort and con­
venience.

2. “ Negro”  defined.—The term “ negro”  as used here­
in, includes every person of African descent as defined by 
the statutes of this State.

3. “ Separate coach”  defined.—Each compartment of a 
railroad coach divided by good and substantial wooden par­
titions with a door therein shall be deemed a separate 
coach within the meaning of this law, and each sepa­
rate coach shall bear in some conspicuous place appro­
priate words in plain letters indicating the race for which 
it is set apart; and each compartment of a street car or 
interurban car divided by a board or marker placed in a 
conspicuous place, bearing appropriate words in plain let­
ters indicating the race for which it is set apart, shall be 
sufficient as a separate compartment within the meaning of 
this law.

4. Penalty.—Any railway company, street car company, 
or intrurban railroad company, lessee, manager or receiver 
thereof, which shall fail to provide its cars bearing pas­
sengers with separate coaches or compartments, as above 
provided for, shall be liable for each failure to a penalty 
of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand 
dollars, to be recovered by suit in the name of the State; 
and each trip run with such train or street car or interurban 
car without such separate coach or compartment shall be 
deemed a separate offense.



5. Exceptions.— This article shall not apply to any ex­
cursion train or street car or interurban car as such for 
the benefit of either race, nor to such freight trains as carry 
passengers in cabooses, nor be so construed as to prevent 
railroad companies from hauling sleeping ears, dining or 
cafe cars or chair cars attached to their trains to be used 
exclusively by either race, separately but not jointly, or to 
prevent nurses from traveling in any coach or compartment 
with their employer, or employes- upon the train or cars in 
the discharge of their duty.

6. Law to be posted.—Every railroad company carry­
ing passengers in this State shall keep this law posted in a 
conspicuous place in each passenger depot and each pas­
senger coach provided in this law.

7. Duty of conductor.—Conductors of passenger trains, 
street ears, or interurban lines provided with separate 
coaches shall have the authority to refuse any passenger 
admittance to any coach or compartment in which they are 
not entitled to ride under the provisions of this law, and 
the conductor in charge of the train or street car or inter­
urban car shall have authority, and it shall be his duty, to 
remove from a coach or street car, or interurban car, any 
passenger not entitled to ride therein under the provisions 
of this law. [Acts 1891, p. 44; Acts 1907, p. 58; Gr. L. vol. 
10, p. 46.]

Texas, Revised Penal Code (Vernon), 1936

Art. 493. [484] [347] [327] “ Negro”  and “ white per­
son.” —The term “ negro”  includes also a person of mixed 
blood descended from negro ancestry from the third genera­
tion inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may 
have been a white person. Any person not included in 
the foregoing definition is deemed a white person within 
the meaning of this law.

Art. 1659. [1523] [1010] Separate coaches.—1. Every 
railway company, street car company and interurban rail­
way company, or any person or the agent of any person,



58

firm, or corporation who operates an interurban, commer­
cial motor vehicle in carrying passengers for hire between 
any cities, towns, or villages of this State, lessee, manager, 
or receiver thereof doing business in this State as a com­
mon carrier of passengers for hire shall provide separate 
coaches or compartments for the accommodation of white 
and negro passengers.

2. “ Negro”  defined. The term negro as used herein 
includes every person of African descent as defined by the 
Statutes of this State.

3. (a) “ Separate Coach”  defined. Each compartment 
of a railroad coach divided by good and substantial wooden 
partitions with a door therein, shall be deemed a separate 
coach within the meaning of this law, and each separate 
coach shall bear in some conspicuous place appropriate 
words in plain letters indicating the race for which it is set 
apart.

(b) Separate compartments for street car, interurban 
■car and commercial motor vehicle defined. Each street car, 
interurban car or commercial motor vehicle having a board 
or marker placed in a conspicuous place bearing appro­
priate words in plain letters indicating the race for which 
space is set apart, shall be sufficient as a separate com­
partment, within the meaning of this law.

4. Violating separate coach law. If any passenger upon 
a train or street car, interurban car or commercial motor 
vehicle provided with separate coaches or compartments 
as above provided shall ride in any coach or compartment 
not designated for his race after having been forbidden 
to do so by the conductor in charge of the train, he shall 
be fined not less than Five Dollars ($5) nor more than 
Twenty-five Dollars ($25).

5. Duty of Conductor. Conductors of passenger trains, 
street cars, interurban lines, or commercial motor vehicle 
provided with separate coaches shall have the authority to 
refuse any passenger admittance to any coach or compart­
ment in which they are not entitled to ride under the pro­



59

visions of this law, and the conductor in charge of the train 
or street car, interurban car or commercial motor vehicle 
shall have authority, and it shall be his duty, to remove 
from a coach or street car, or interurban car or commercial 
motor vehicle any passenger not entitled to ride therein 
under the provisions of this law, and upon his refusal 
to do so knowingly he shall be fined not less than Five 
Dollars ($5) nor more than Twenty-five Dollars ($25).

6. Fines to go to School Fund. All fines collected under 
the provisions of this law shall go to the available common 
school fund of the county in which conviction is had. Prose­
cutions under this law may be instituted in any county 
through or into which said railroad may be run or have 
an office. [As amended Acts 1935, 44th Leg., p. 387, ch. 
147, Section 1.]

Art. 1660. Exceptions.—The preceding article shall not 
apply to any excursion train or street car or interurban car 
as such for the benefit of either race, nor to such freight 
trains as carry passengers in cabooses, nor be so construed 
as to prevent railroad companies from hauling sleeping 
cars, dining or cafe cars or chair cars attached to their 
trains to be used exclusively by either race, separately but 
not jointly, or to prevent nurses from traveling in any coach 
or compartment with their employer, or employes upon 
the train or cars in the discharge of their duty.

Art. 1661. Preference in transportation.—By the word 
“ preference”  as' used in this article is meant any advan­
tage, privilege, right, opportunity, precedence, choice, 
favor, priority, or gain that is or may be, or is sought or 
purposed to be accorded, granted, given, allowed, permitted 
or extended to any person, place, or thing, as against any 
other person, place, or thing in the receipt, carriage, trans­
portation, movement, placing, storing, handling, caring for 
or delivery of any freight, commodity or article, or any 
railroad car or by any common carrier in this State, or 
any agent or employe thereof. Any person who shall ask, 
solicit, demand, or receive, directly or indirectly, from any 
person, corporate or otherwise, any money, reward, favor,



60

benefit, or other thing of value, or the promise of either, 
as a consideration for procuring or effecting, or with the 
intent of the person asking, soliciting, demanding, charging 
or receiving the same, or the promise thereof, that such 
person can or will, seek or undertake to procure or effect 
any preference in the receipt, carriage, transportation, stor­
ing, movement, placing, handling, caring for, or delivery of 
any freight, commodity or article, or any railroad car by 
any common carrier in this State or any agent or employe 
thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more 
than one thousand dollars and be imprisoned in jail not 
less than thirty days nor more than six months. [Acts 
1921, p. 34.]

Virginia, Code (Michie), 1942

Section 67. Colored persons and Indians defined.— 
Every person in whom there is ascertainable any negro 
blood shall be deemed and taken to be a colored person, 
and every person not a colored person having one-fourth 
or more of American Indian blood shall be deemed an 
American Indian; except that members of Indian tribes 
living on reservations allotted them by the Commonwealth 
of Virginia having one-fourth or more of Indian blood 
and less than one-sixteenth of negro blood shall be deemed 
tribal Indians so long as they are domiciled on said reser­
vations. (Code 1887, Section 49; 1910, p. 581; 1930, p. 97.)

Section 3962. Separate cars for white and colored pas­
sengers.—All persons, natural or artificial, who are now, 
or may hereafter be, engaged in running or operating any 
railroad in this State by steam for the transportation of 
passengers are hereby required to furnish separate cars 
or coaches for the travel or transportation of the white and 
colored passengers on their respective lines of railroad. 
Each compai’tment of a coach divided by a good and sub­
stantial partition, with a door therein, shall be deemed a 
separate coach within the meaning of this section, and 
each separate coach or compartment shall bear in some 
conspicuous place appropriate words in plain letters, in­



61

dicating the race for which it is set apart. (Id., eh. 4, 
Section 28.)

Section 3963. Company to make no discrimination in 
quality of accommodations for white and colored passen­
gers.—No difference or discrimination shall be made in the 
quality, convenience or accommodation in the cars or 
coaches or partitions set apart for white and colored pas­
sengers under the preceding section. (Id., ch. 4, Section 
29.)

Section 3964. Liability for failure to comply with two 
preceding sections.—Any railroad company or companies, 
person or persons, that shall fail, refuse, or neglect to 
comply with the provisions of the two preceding sections 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indict­
ment and conviction thereof shall be fined not less than 
three hundred nor more than one thousand dollars for each 
offense.. (Id., ch. 4, Section 30.)

Section 3965. Conductors to assign white and colored 
passengers to their respective compartments.-—The conduc­
tors or managers on all such railroads shall have power, 
and are hereby required, to assign to each white or colored 
passenger his or her respective car, coach, or compart­
ment. If the passenger fails to disclose his race, the con­
ductor and managers, acting in good faith, shall be the sole 
judges of his race; and if any passenger refuse to occupy 
the car, coach, or compartment to which he or she may be 
assigned by the conductor or manager, said conductor or 
manager shall have the right to refuse to carry such pas­
senger on his train, and may put him off his train. For 
such refusal and putting off of the train, neither the man­
ager, conductor, nor railroad company shall be liable for 
damages in any court. (Id., ch. 4, Section 31.)

Section 3966. Penalty for failure to carry out provi­
sions of preceding section.—Any conductor or manager on 
any such railroad who shall fail or refuse to carry out 
the provisions of the preceding section shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment and convic­
tion thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor



more than fifty dollars for each offense. (Id., ch. 4, Sec­
tion 32.)

Section 3967. When portion of one compartment may 
be assigned to passengers of another race.—When any 
coach or compartment of a car for either race shall be 
completely filled, where no extra coaches or cars can be 
had, and the increased number of passengers could not be 
foreseen, the conductor in charge of such train is hereby 
authorized to assign and set apart a portion of the car or 
compartment assigned to passengers of one race to passen­
gers of another race. (Id., ch. 4, Section 33.)

Section 3968. Application of preceding sections.—The 
provisions of sections thirty-nine hundred and sixty-three, 
thirty-nine hundred and sixty-four, thirty-nine hundred and 
sixty-five and thirty-nine hundred and sixty-six shall not 
apply to employees on railroads or to persons employed as 
nurses, or to officers in charge of prisoners, or lunatics, 
whether said prisoners or lunatics are white or colored, or 
both white and colored, or to prisoners in his custody, nor 
shall the same apply to the transportation of passengers in 
any caboose car attached to a freight train, nor to Pullman 
Cars, nor to through or express trains that do no local 
business.

Section 3978. Electric railway companies to separate 
white and colored passengers.—All urban, interurban, and 
suburban electric railway companies or other persons op­
erating trains, cars or coaches by electricity for the car­
riage of passengers, shall separate the white and colored 
passengers in their cars and set apart and designate in 
each car or coach a portion thereof, or certain seats therein 
to be occupied by white passengers, and a portion thereof, 
or certain seats therein, to be occupied by colored pas­
sengers, and such company or corporation, person or per­
sons that shall fail, refuse or neglect to comply with the 
provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon indictment and conviction they shall be fined not 
less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred and fifty 
dollars for each offense.



63

Section 3979. Discrimination as to quality of accommo­
dation for races not permitted; heating cars.— The said 
companies, corporation or persons so operating trains, 
cars or coaches upon such lines of railroad or railway 
shall make no difference or discrimination in the quality 
and convenience of the accommodations provided for the 
two races, under the provisions of the preceding section. 
Said companies, corporations or persons so operating 
trains, coaches or cars upon such lines of railroad or rail­
way shall in cold weather reasonably heat the several apart­
ments of all cars carrying passengers therein. (1902-3-4, 
p. 968, ch. 4, Section 42; 1906, p. 92.)

Section 3980. May decrease or increase space for either 
race.— The conductor, manager or other person in charge 
of any car or coach so operated upon any such line of 
railroad or railway as is mentioned in section thirty-nine 
hundred and seventy-eight shall have the right, and he is 
hereby directed and required at any time when it may be 
necessary or proper for the comfort and convenience of 
passengers so to do, to change the designation so as to 
increase or decrease the amount of space or seats set apart 
for either race; but, no contiguous seats on the same 
bench shall be occupied by white and colored passengers 
at the same time (unless or until all of the other seats in 
said car shall be occupied); and said conductor or manager 
may require any passenger to change his or her seat as 
often as it may be necessary or proper; the said conductor 
or manager of any such railroad or railway who shall fail 
or refuse to carry out the provisions of this section shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction 
thereof shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more 
than twenty-five dollars for each offense. (1902-3-4, ch. 4, 
Section 43; 1906, p. 92.)

Section 3981. Conductor and motorman conservators of 
the peace.—Each conductor and motorman in the employ­
ment of said company, and upon the cars of said company, 
shall be a special policeman, and have all the powers of 
conservators of the peace in the enforcement of the provi­
sions of this chapter, and in the discharge of his duty as



64

special policeman in the enforcement of order upon said 
cars and said right of way; and such conductors and motor- 
men shall likewise have the powers of conservators of 
the peace and of special policemen while in pursuit of per­
sons for disorder upon said cars and right of way for vio­
lating the provisions of this chapter, and until such persons 
as may be arrested by such conductor or motorman shall 
have been placed in confinement, or delivered over to the 
custody of some other conservator of the peace or police 
officer; and, acting in good faith, he shall be, for the pur­
poses of this chapter, the judge of the race of each pas­
senger, whenever such passenger has failed to disclose 
his or her race. (1902-3-4, p. 968, ch. 4, Section 45; 1906, 
p. 92.)

Section 3982. Provisions not to apply to employees, 
nurses, etc.— The provisions of sections thirty-nine hundred 
and seventy-eight, thirty-nine hundred and eighty, and 
thirty-nine hundred and eighty-one shall not apply to em­
ployees engaged in conducting, managing or operating said 
trains, cars, or coaches, nor to persons employed as nurses, 
nor officers in charge of prisoners or lunatics. (1902-3-4, 
p. 968, ch. 4, Section 47; 1906, p. 92.)

Section 3983. Penalty for failure to obey conductor in 
respect to seats assigned.—All persons who fail, while on 
any coach or car used for the carriage of passengers for 
hire by any company or corporation, or person or persons, 
on any railway line, whether the motive power thereof be 
steam or electricity, or other motive power, or whether 
said coach or car be on a street railway or interurban rail­
way or a steam railway, to take and occupy the seat or 
seats or other space assigned to them by the conductor, 
manager or other person in charge of such car or coach, 
or whose duty it is to take up tickets or collect fares from 
passengers therein, or who fail to obey the direction of any 
such conductor, manager or other person, as aforesaid, to 
change their seats from time to time, as occasions require, 
pursuant to any lawful rule, regulation or custom in force 
on such lines as to assigning separate seats or compart­
ments, or other space, to white and colored passengers,



65

respectively, being first advised of the fact of such regu­
lation and requested to conform thereto, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall 
be fined not less than five nor more than twenty-five dollars 
for each offense. Furthermore, such persons may be ejected 
from said car, and from the right of way of said company 
by any conductor, motorman or manager of said company, 
or by any police officer or other conservator of the peace; 
and in case such persons ejected shall have paid their 
fares upon said car, they shall not be entitled to a return 
of any part of the same. (1910, p. 335.)

Section 4022. Separation of white and colored passen­
gers; discrimination; application of section.—It shall be 
the duty of the captain, purser, or other officer in command 
of any steamboat carrying passengers and plying in the 
waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, to 
assign white and colored passengers on said boats to the 
respective location they are to occupy as passengers while 
on said boats, and to separate the white and colored pas­
sengers on said boats in the sitting, sleeping, and eating 
apartments: but, no discrimination shall be made in the 
quality and convenience of accomodation afforded passen­
gers in said location. This section shall not apply to nurses 
or attendants traveling with their employers, nor to officers 
in charge of prisoners or lunatics. (1902-3-4, p. 968, eh, 6, 
Section 1.)

Section 4023. Penalty for not complying with provi­
sions of preceding section.—Any captain, purser, or other 
officer in command of said boat who shall fail or refuse 
to carry out the provisions of the preceding section shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction 
thereof shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor 
more than one hundred dollars for each offense.

Section 4024. Passenger to occupy place assigned; pen­
alty for disorderly conduct; duty of officer in charge.—- 
Any passenger or passengers traveling on any steamboat 
plying in the waters within the juridiction of the Common­
wealth, who shall wilfully refuse to occupy the location,



66

whether of sitting, sleeping, or eating, set apart or assigned 
by the captain, purser, or other officer in command of such 
boat, or behaves in a riotous or disorderly manner, shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction 
thereof shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more 
than fifty dollars, or confined in jail not less than thirty 
days, or both, in the discretion of the court; and such per­
sons may be ejected from said boat by the officers thereof 
at any landing place of said boat; and, if necessary, such 
assistance may be invoked by such person in charge of 
such boats as they may require to eject such passenger.

Section 4025. Officer of wharf or landing; officers of 
vessels, etc., to be conservators of the peace.— The presi­
dent or general manager of any steamship or steamboat 
company, whose boats ply in the waters within the jurisdic­
tion of this State, may, with the approbation of the circuit 
court of any county, or the corporation court of any city, 
where the said steamship or steamboat company has a 
wharf or landing, appoint one or more police agents, who 
shall have authority upon the said wharf or landing, and 
at other places within this State belonging to such com­
pany, to exercise all the powers which can lawfully be ex­
ercised by any constable for the preservation of the peace, 
the arrest of offenders and disorderly persons, and for the 
enforcement of the laws against crime; and such president 
or general manager may remove any such agent at his 
pleasure: provided, that any circuit or corporation court 
giving such consent may at any time revoke it. Masters 
of steamships or steamboats, and wharf or landing agents, 
shall be conservators of the peace, and they, and each of 
them, shall have the same power to make arrests that jus­
tices have, except that the masters of steamships and 
steamboats shall only have such power on board their 
respective vessels, and the agents at their respective places 
of business; and the said masters and agents may cause 
any person so arrested by them to be detained and delivered 
to the proper authorities for trial as soon as practicable.

Section 4026. Owners of steamboat wharves to provide 
thereat suitable accommodations for the patrons of steam­



67

boats using the same.— The owner or owners of any steam­
boat wharf shall provide at their wharves suitable accom­
modations for the patrons of the steamboats using said 
wharves. The said accommodation shall consist of separate 
and noncommunicating rooms for the white and colored 
races, and said rooms shall be properly lighted and heated 
from one-half hour before the scheduled arrival of the boat 
and until such time after the departure thereof as will 
provide for the accommodation of passengers leaving said 
boat: but, the provisions of this section shall not apply 
to those wharves at which steamers arrive and depart be­
tween seven o ’clock in the morning and seven o ’clock in 
the evening, at which there are public houses open for the 
public, and at which the public are comfortably cared 
for while waiting for said boats. Any owner or owners 
of wharves aforesaid who fail to comply with any of the 
provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a mis­
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not 
less than five nor more than twenty dollars for each offense. 
This section, however, shall not apply to any wharf where 
no wharfage is charged.



L awyers P ress, I nc., 165 William St., N. Y. C .; ’Phone: BEekman 3-2300