The statutes[473] of Arizona, until 1909, declared that no child should be refused admission to any public school on account of race or color. Last year, however, the school law of that Territory was amended[474] so as to give the board of trustees of school districts power, when they deem it advisable, to segregate pupils of the African from pupils of the white race and to provide all accommodations made necessary by such segregation, but the power to segregate shall be exercised only where the number of pupils of the African race shall exceed eight in any school district. This amendment was passed over the Governor’s veto by a two-thirds’ vote of the legislature.
The Constitutions of Colorado[475] of 1876 and of Idaho[476] of 1889 provide that no distinction or classification of pupils shall be made on account of race or color, and the judicial decisions of those States do not show any attempts by the school boards to draw color lines.
Separate schools were abolished by law in Massachusetts in 1857.[477] The present statute[478] declares that no child shall be excluded from a public school of any city or town on account of race or color. In practice, the matter is not entirely at rest in Massachusetts.
The law[479] of Michigan prohibits the segregation of the races in schools. Because of objections made by white students, two Negroes,[480] in 1908, were refused admission to the Grand Rapids, Michigan, Medical College, a private institution. The Negroes appealed to the State circuit court, which issued a writ of _mandamus_ compelling the school to admit them. When this was granted and they were accordingly admitted, thirty-four members of the junior class of the school “struck,” and the authorities suspended the class for a time. The Supreme Court[481] of Michigan later reversed the order granting the writ of _mandamus_, saying that a private institution of learning, though incorporated, has a right to say whom it will receive.
A statute[482] of Minnesota declares that a district shall not classify its pupils with reference to race or color, nor separate them into different schools or departments upon such grounds. The punishment for violation of this law by a district is a forfeiture of its share of the public school fund so long as the classification or separation continues. The Territory of New Mexico[483] makes it a misdemeanor for a teacher or school director to exclude any child on account of race or nationality, under penalty of a fine from fifty dollars to one hundred dollars and three months imprisonment, and being forever barred from teaching school or holding any office of profit or honor in the Territory.