Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/368

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CHAPTER XII

RACE DISTINCTIONS VERSUS RACE DISCRIMINATIONS


Heretofore, the writer has let the legislatures and courts speak for themselves, withholding personal opinions and refraining from making deductions from the facts revealed. Now, however, that the various race distinctions have been reviewed at some length, it may be worth while to consider what conclusions the facts warrant and what practical lessons they suggest.


RACE DISTINCTIONS NOT CONFINED TO ONE SECTION

Race distinctions are not confined to any one section of the country. This conclusion is the most patent of all. There is scarcely a State or Territory in the Union where legislative or judicial records do not reveal the actual existence of at least some race distinctions. Of the twenty-six States and Territories that prohibit intermarriage, more than half, extending from Delaware to Oregon, are outside the South. Negroes have, on account of their race, been excluded, usually contrary to the local laws, from hotels in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa; from barber-*shops, in Nebraska and Connecticut; from boot-black stands, in New York; from billiard-rooms, in Massachu-