Table 4.

Selected examples of US state laws on racial segregation in education and corresponding “racial” definitions⁶²

State	Laws on racial segregation in education	“Racial” definitions
Alabama	p. 21: Constitution. Education. Art. XIV, Sec. 256 [Authorizes establishment of a system of public schools for children between the ages of 7 and 21 years and provides ‘separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race’]	p. 22: Definition of “Negro”. Title 1, §2 … 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 reference to or limit of time or number of generations [1927, p. 716]
Arkansas	p. 40: Education. Public Schools – Segregation of Races (80–509): “The board of school directors of each district in the State shall be charged with the following powers and perform the following duties … (c) establish separate schools for white and colored persons …”	p. 39: Definition of Negro: [Statute related to concubinage, supra, defines ‘person of negro race’ as ‘any person who has in his or he veins any negro blood whatever.’]
Florida	p. 77: Constitution. Education. Art. 12, §12. Separate schools for negroes. – White and Colored Children shall not be taught in the same school, but impartial provision shall be made for both. [Const. 1885] p. 78: Education – Segregation. Public Schools. §228.09. Separate schools for white and negro children required. – The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. No individual, body of individuals, corporation, or association shall conduct within this state any school of any grade (public, private, or parochial) wherein white persons and negroes are instructed or boarded in the same building or at the same time by the same teachers. [§209, ch. 19355,1939; Comp. Gen Laws 1940 Supp., §892(29).] (emphasis added). [Note: This statute is mandatory and applies to both public and private schools.]	p. 78: Definition of “Negro” §1.01. Definition – … (6) The words ‘negro,’ ‘colored’, ‘colored persons’, ‘mulatto’ or ‘persons of color’, when applied to persons, include every person having one-eighth or more of African or negro blood. [Rev. Gen. St. 1920, §§3939; Comp. Gen. Laws 1927, §5858.]
Georgia	p. 89: Constitution. Education. Art. VIII. §1(6576) Paragraph I. System of common schools; free tuition; separation of races. – The provision of an adequate education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the State of Georgia, the expense of which shall be provided by taxation. Separate schools shall be provided for the white and colored races. [Const. 1877, §2–6601; Const. 1945, §2–6401.]	p. 90: Definition of “Negro” and “White.” §790103. (2177) Persons of color, who are. – 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. [Acts 1865–6, p. 239; 1927, p. 272.] §55–312. “White person” defined. – The term “white person” shall include only persons of the white or Caucasian race, who have no ascertainable trace of either Negro, African, West Indian, Asiatic Indian, Mongolian, Japanese, or Chinese blood in their veins. No 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, shall be deemed to be a white person. [Acts 1927, p. 277]
Tennessee	p. 427: Constitution. Education – Segregation. Art 11, Sec. 12. – … The State taxes derived hereafter from polls shall be appropriated to educational purposes, in such manner as the General Assembly shall, from time to time, direct by law. No school established or aided under this section shall allow white and negro children to be received as scholars together in the same school … [Const. 1870.]	p. 428: Statutes. Williams Tennessee Code Annotated, 1934. Definition of Negro. 25. Same – The word “negro” includes mulattoes, mestizos and their descendants, having any blood of the African race in their veins. 8396. 417a1 (2745a). Persons of color define. – All negroes, mulattoes, mestizos, and their descendants, having any African blood in their veins, shall be known as “persons of color.” [1865–66, ch. 40, sec. 1, Modified.]