Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/380

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it advisable to separate the races in public conveyances, the white people should unite with them in demanding that they be given equal accommodations. The Negro who has paid a first-class fare is entitled to coaches and waiting-rooms as sanitary, comfortable, and convenient as those provided for white persons paying the same fare. With separate schools provided, they should insist that each race be given an equal opportunity to get the sort of training it most needs to do its work. This training may be different. The Southern Education Association[1] in session at Lexington, Kentucky, said: "On account of economic and psychological differences in the two races we believe there should be a difference in the courses of study and methods of teaching, and that there should be such an adjustment of school curricula as shall meet the evident needs of Negro youth." If it is true that the Negro child needs a different sort of training from the white, then it is a discrimination to give him the training peculiarly suited to the child of the other race. People may demand for the two races equal educational opportunities, and at the same time advocate different courses of study and methods of teaching.

In States which have added new qualifications for suffrage, both races may demand their impartial application. A Negro public spirited enough to pay his taxes, with education enough to read and write, or thrifty enough to accumulate the required amount of property should be allowed to register and vote as freely as a white man with similar qualifications. A white registrar who discriminates against a Negro applicant, by setting for him more difficult tests than are set for white applicants, is doing