NORTH DAKOTA
Background information is provided to put the Jim Crow laws in context and explain how minorities were treated prior to the Civil War. In a few cases, the dates of specific information also have been provided. North Dakota was first settled by Native Americans several thousand years ago. The major tribes in the area by the time of settlement were the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Sioux, and Chippewa. In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became separate states. Source
1899: A Constitutional amendment gave the legislature authority to implement educational qualifications for electors. Source
1933: An education Statute Law stated that "it would not be expedient to have the Indian children mingle with the white children in our educational institutions by reason of the vastly different temperament and mode of living and other differences and difficulties of the two races. Source
1943: A miscegenation State Code prohibited cohabitation between a white person and a Negro or person having one-eighth or more Negro blood. Penalty: 30 days to one year imprisonment, or $100 to $500 fine. It was repealed in 1955. Source is: N. DAK. CODE. && 14-0304, 0305
OHIO
Background information is provided to put the Jim Crow laws in context and explain how minorities were treated prior to the Civil War. In a few cases, the dates of specific information also have been provided. In 1847 Ohioans prohibited the settlement of the 518 emancipated slaves of the Virginia statesman John Randolph. Source Slavery was abolished by the state's original constitution (1802). But at the same time, Ohio, with slave-state Kentucky across the river, aggressively barred black immigration. The state had enacted Black Laws in 1804 and 1807 that compelled blacks entering the state to post bond of $500 guaranteeing good behavior and to produce a court paper as proof that they were free. When the public school system spread to Ohio, citizens and legislators alike objected to educating blacks from public funds, in part because it would tend to encourage other blacks to come there and settle. In the end, the state, like Pennsylvania, required its district school directors to set up separate facilities for black and white children. The Ohio courts upheld this segregation in 1850 and 1859, rejecting the idea of integration and declaring that, “whether consistent with true philanthropy or not . . . there . . . still is an almost invincible repugnance to such communion and fellowship.” Source
Many of these entries came from an inactive website—www.jimcrowhistory.org—though much of the data previously posted on that website has been reproduced on other websites. To avoid repeating the source of information for these entries, we have added the symbol “#” at the end of each of them. Capitalization of words follows the original usage, and many of the entries have been edited for clarity.
1877: A miscegenation Statute made it unlawful for a person of "pure white blood, who intermarries, or has illicit carnal intercourse, with any Negro or person having a distinct and visible admixture of African blood." Penalty: Fined up to $100, or imprisoned up to three months, or both. Any person who knowingly officiates such a marriage charged with misdemeanor and fined up to $100 or imprisoned in three months, or both. Source
1878: An education Statute enabled school districts to have discretion to organize separate schools for colored children if "in their judgment it may be for the advantage of the district to do so." Source
1933: State ex rel. Weaver v Bd of Trustees of Ohio State University – Ohio, 1933 (185 N.E. 196) In Weaver, the Ohio supreme court had little trouble upholding Ohio State’s refusal to allow a black student to live in an integrated dormitory. The court relied on Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the U.S. Supreme Court had held that “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional: the Ohio court saw no need to implement a broader concept of equal rights in Ohio. Source
1953: An adoption Statute required race to be considered on adoption petitions. Source
1956: Fletcher v Coney Island, Inc. – Ohio, 1956 (134 N.E.2d 371). In Fletcher, the court held that Ohio’s accommodations law allowed a black Ohioan to sue an amusement park for damages after it refused to admit her, but the court (unlike courts in some other states) interpreted the law narrowly, concluding that it did not allow the court to order the park to admit black customers. The legislature changed the law to allow for such orders, but only many years later. Source
OKLAHOMA
Background: Following the pattern of states bordering the Confederacy, Oklahoma strongly supported separation of the races with 18 Jim Crow laws passed between 1890 and 1957. In 1830, The Indian Removal Act is signed by President Andrew Jackson, pushing 60,000 Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw, off their lands in the southeast United States. The Native Americans are forced by federal troops to walk hundreds of miles to what is now Oklahoma. This was known as the Trial of Tears. Source
Many of these entries came from a website (www.jimcrowhistory.org) that is no longer active on the Internet. Data from that site (either individual entries or the entire list) has been reproduced on multiple websites. To avoid repetition on listing this information on each entry, we have added the symbol “#” at the end of the entry, rather than [Source]. Capitalization of words follows original usage, and many have been edited for purposes of clarity.
1887: The Dawes Severalty Act (General Allotment Act) legislated the allotment of communal tribal lands into individually owned plots, indicating a major shift in federal government policy. Source
1890: A Statue provided that every three years an election for school electors to be held to vote for or against separate schools for white and colored children. #
1897: The Oklahoma legislature votes to prohibit any white child from attending a school designated for Black students and vice versa. Source
1898: The Curtis Act was passed. helped weaken and dissolve Indian Territory tribal governments by abolishing tribal courts and subjecting all persons in the territory to federal law. This meant that there could be no enforcement of tribal laws and that any tribal legislation passed after 1898 had to be approved by the president of the United States. Source
1903: A mining-bath facilities Statute stated: "The baths and lockers for the Negroes shall be separate from the white race but may be in the same building." Source
1904: An Education-Teaching Statute stated: "Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offense." Source
1907: The first Oklahoma state constitution segregated public schools. The legislature added laws segregating transportation and forbidding intermarriage. Oklahoma later segregated various public accommodations, while some towns segregated residential areas. As for voting, Indigent persons housed in a poorhouse at public expense are excluded from voting. Exception made for Federal, Confederate, and Spanish American veterans. In addition, required electors to read and write any section of the state Constitution. Exempted those who were enfranchised on January 1, 1866, and lineal descendants of such persons. An Amendment allowed Persons of Indian descent to vote. It was declared unconstitutional in 1915; however, provision for literacy was upheld. Source
