Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/195

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over two miles and a half. The white and colored schools were to be furnished with the same kind of furniture and equipment. No white teacher should teach in a colored school and vice versa. The Constitution[68] of the State of Oklahoma, adopted September 17, 1907, provides: "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 include all other children." An Oklahoma statute[69] of 1907 requires complete separation of the races in schools, with impartial facilities for both races. By "colored children," it means those that have any "quantum of Negro blood." The teacher who knowingly and willingly permits a child of one race to be taught in a school for another race is guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punished by a fine of between ten and a hundred dollars and, in addition, may have his certificate cancelled and be unable to secure another for a year. The separation applies to private schools and colleges as well as public schools.

The South Carolina government was, like that of Louisiana, early under Reconstruction. The Constitution[70] of 1868 provided that "all the public schools, colleges and universities of this State, supported in whole or in part by the public school fund, should be free and open to all the children and youths of that State, without regard to race or color. In fact, the University of South Carolina was open to Negroes directly after the War.[71] But the Constitution[72] of 1895 requires separate schools, and adds that "no child of either race shall ever be permitted