SEPARATION OF PASSENGERS IN STREET CARS

The third division of the subject is the separation of races in street cars. This is a field of much more active legislation than any of the preceding, in which much has been done recently and in which much more is likely to be done.

Of the thirteen separate coach laws just considered, six of them—those of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas—except street railroads from their application. Georgia and Oklahoma alone make their laws all inclusive, embracing electric and street cars as well as railroad coaches. It is safe to assume that the laws of the other States refer only to railroad coaches.

Present Extent of Separation

With the exception of the early law of Georgia[[573]] of 1891, the “Jim Crow” street car laws came in with the new century. So far, eight of the Southern States have passed general statutes to separate the races on street cars, in the following order: Georgia,[[573]] 1891; Louisiana,[[574]] 1902; Mississippi,[[575]] 1904; Tennessee,[[576]] and Florida,[[577]] 1905; Virginia,[[578]] 1906, and North Carolina,[[579]] and Oklahoma,[[580]] 1907. The statute of Arkansas,[[581]] of 1903, might be included in the above list, but it applies only to cities of the first class. Some States passed laws of special application before they made them general. Thus, in 1902, the legislature of Virginia[[582]] separated the white and colored passengers on street cars going between Alexandria and points in Fairfax and Alexandria Counties; and in 1901, between Richmond and Seven Pines. And so Tennessee,[[583]] in 1903, made the regular separate coach law apply to street cars in counties having 150,000 inhabitants or over, as shown by the census of 1900 or any subsequent Federal census. Memphis only came within this law. In 1905, South Carolina[[584]] required the separation of the races on “electric railways outside of the corporate limits of cities and towns.” This State has not yet made the law general.

The extent of legislation at present is as follows: Georgia and Oklahoma, by their regular “Jim Crow” laws, require the white and colored passengers on street cars to be separated. Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina have separated the races by statutes specially applicable to street cars. Arkansas, by statute, requires a separation in cities of the first class; and South Carolina, on suburban lines. Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky and Missouri do not, by statute, require the races to be separated on street cars in cities. But the absence of legislative enactments does not mean at all that races are not actually separated on street cars. In order to find out the extent of actual separation, the author made inquiry of the mayors of every city of 10,000 or more inhabitants in the Southern States and in West Virginia and Kansas. Some generalizations may be made from the almost complete number of replies received. It may be assumed that the races are separated in the above-mentioned States which have statutes on the subject. It appears that the white and colored passengers are not separated on the street cars of any of the cities of Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia. In the absence of State laws, either the municipal authorities or the street railway companies themselves provide for and require separation in the cities of Alabama and South Carolina. Thus, though there is no ordinance on the subject in Charleston, South Carolina, separation is required by the company itself.

Method of Separation

The city ordinances and regulations requiring separation on street cars are practically the same as the State statutes on the subject. The ordinances, regulations, and statutes all require that the accommodations for passengers of both races shall be equal. The three methods of separation are (1) separate cars, (2) partitioned cars, and (3) seats assigned to each race. The only city that unqualifiedly requires separate cars is Montgomery, Alabama. The ordinance was passed October 15, 1906, over the mayor’s veto, he vetoing it because he believed it would be impracticable. When the law went into effect, November 23, the service was materially reduced because of the scarcity of cars.[[585]] The State laws of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi give the choice of using two or more cars or partitioned cars. A number of the ordinances require that the cars be divided either by movable screens or partitions. They are movable so as to apportion the seating capacity to the requirements of each race. But in by far the greatest number of cases, the separation is accomplished by the conductor assigning white and colored passengers to different seats. Practically without exception, the colored passengers are required to be seated from the rear to the front of the car; the white, from the front to the rear. On railroad cars, the colored passengers are almost invariably assigned to the front compartments. The colored passengers on street cars are seated in the rear in order—to give the reason as stated by the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama—to do “away with the disagreeable odors that would necessarily follow the breezes.” In the closed cars of that city, however, the colored passengers are seated in front so as to give the white passengers the rear for smoking. In other cities, the two rear seats are reserved for smoking, so the colored passengers begin to sit on the third seat from the rear. As the car fills, the races get nearer and nearer to one another. North Carolina provides that white and colored passengers shall not occupy contiguous seats on the same bench. Virginia, likewise, prohibits white and colored passengers from sitting side by side on the same bench unless all the other seats are filled. The conductor has the power to require passengers to change their seats as often as is needful to secure actual separation of the races. The laws do not prohibit the running of special cars exclusively for either race, provided the regular cars are run.

The cars or compartments are to be clearly designated to show to which race they belong. Several statutes and ordinances require that the placard “WHITE” or “COLORED,” in plain letters, not less than two inches high, shall be upon each end of the car or compartment, or upon the sides of the open cars. A recent case[[586]] in Mississippi would seem to hold that the sign must be large enough to be seen in all parts of the car. The laws of Mississippi and Louisiana require that the law be posted in the car; in Virginia, the substance of the law is posted in the car. In Houston, Texas, the race to which the seat belongs is posted on the back of the seat. In several cities, any one tampering with such a sign will be punished by a heavy fine.

The law of North Carolina probably contains a fatal defect in that it requires separation “as far as practicable.” Of course, this would allow the conductors or companies to make numberless exceptions. As a matter of fact, most of the North Carolina cities had been contemplating such a separation, and, when the law went into effect the first of April, 1907, were ready to regard and enforce it.

Enforcement of Laws

In practically all of the cities, the street-car conductors and motormen are special policemen to enforce the law. For the ejectment of a wilfully disobedient passenger, they incur no penalty either upon themselves or the company. North Carolina provides that the conductor shall not be liable if he makes the mistake of assigning a passenger to the wrong seat. In several of the cities, it is the duty of the regular police officers to arrest passengers whom they see riding in the wrong cars. The penalty upon the conductor for knowingly failing or refusing to enforce the law varies all the way from a minimum fine of one dollar in Montgomery, Alabama, to five hundred dollars in Jacksonville, Florida, or imprisonment from one to ninety days. The liability of the company is correspondingly heavy in proportion. Each trip made without providing for the requirements of the law is expressly declared a separate offence. In Pensacola, Florida, the fine upon the company for not furnishing separate accommodations is fifty dollars a day.

When a passenger consciously disobeys the law, he may be fined; and if he insists upon occupying the wrong seat, the conductor may eject him from the car. According to the Virginia law, “in case such passenger ejected shall have paid his fare upon said car, he shall not be entitled to any part of said fare.”

Exemptions

The only phase of these “Jim Crow” street-car laws which has given rise to any serious discussion is the question of the exemptions from application. Most of the States and cities simply except nurses of one race in attendance upon the children or sick of the other race, the nurse going into the car to which the child or sick person belongs. Of course, the street-car employees are excepted, and Virginia excepts officers in charge of prisoners and lunatics. But Florida and North Carolina declared that the law should not apply to colored nurses in attendance upon white children or white sick people; and Augusta, Georgia, has the same in its ordinance. The constitutionality of the Florida law was tested five years ago in the Supreme Court[[587]] of that State, and was declared to violate the Fourteenth Amendment, the court, in its opinion, saying: “It gives to the Caucasian mistress the right to have her child attended in the Caucasian department of the car by its African nurse, and withholds from the African mistress the equal right to have her child attended in the African department by its Caucasian nurse.” This is the same discrimination as to the invalid adult Caucasian attended by a colored nurse. As soon as the Florida State law was declared unconstitutional, the cities passed ordinances making the provision apply to nurses of either race. The North Carolina law was never tested, for it was amended before a test case reached the courts. The North Carolina legislature[[588]] of 1909 obviated all possible difficulty by amending its law to the effect that the nurses of the children or sick or infirm of one race might ride in the car set apart for the race of the infant or sick or infirm person so attended.