RESTAURANTS
Race discrimination in restaurants is prohibited by thirteen States; in taverns, by one; in eating-houses, by eleven; in boarding-houses, by one; in cafés, by one; in chop-houses, by one; and at lunch-counters, by one. These will be considered under the general head of restaurants.
In 1881 a Negro was refused accommodation in a restaurant in New York. At that time the laws of the State prohibited discrimination in inns. The restaurant-keeper argued as a defence in the suit that followed that the restaurant was not included in the term “inns.” The court[[267]] held that the legislature meant by “inn” a place that furnished both lodging and food to guests, that “restaurant” had no fixed legal meaning, and that the declaration was sufficient if it said “inn” and then explained it by calling it a restaurant.
A Negro went to a restaurant in Detroit in 1887 and asked for accommodation. The clerk told him that he could not be served on the restaurant side, but that he would be served if he went over on the saloon side. The colored man complained to the proprietor and was told that it was the rule of the house not to serve Negroes in the restaurant room. The statute of Michigan required full and equal accommodation in restaurants. The court[[268]] held that the statute would not be satisfied if the Negro were given as good accommodations but in a different room, saying: “In Michigan there must be and is an absolute, unconditional equality of white and colored men before the law.... Whatever right a white man has in a public place, the black man has also.”
In 1897 a colored man went into a restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After sitting at the table forty minutes without having his order taken, he complained, and was told that he was not served because he was colored. He left, and later brought suit. At the trial, it appeared that the discrimination was not with the sanction of the proprietor, that he had told the waiter to serve Negroes, that the waiter had refused to do so and was discharged therefor. Nevertheless, the court[[269]] held that the proprietor was liable for the act of his servant, and gave compensatory damages to the Negro.
The next year, a restaurant keeper refused to accommodate a Negro in Lucas County, Ohio, and the court[[270]] allowed the Negro to recover the penalty prescribed by the law. The case was decided on a question of evidence.
In 1905 a Negro was serving on the jury in a civil case in Iowa. The bailiff had arranged with a boarding-house to serve meals. When the Negro, along with the other jurors, went for his meals, the boarding-house keeper refused to allow him to sit at the same table with the others. It was not questioned that this was in violation of the Civil Rights Bill of the State if the boarding-house was an “eating-house” within the terms of the statute. The court[[271]] charged the jury that such an eating-house as would come within the statute must be a place where meals are served to anyone applying at the same prices charged to all, but that, if meals are served only in pursuance of a previous arrangement for particular individuals, rather than anyone who may apply, it is a private boarding-house and not within the statute.