The Emergence of Jim Crow - America in Class

Colorphobia in the Memphis Schools,Cleveland Gazette, March 8, 1884The schools of Memphis are all torn up on a delicate question. A child managed toslip into one of the public schools which, because of the kinkiness of the hair, wassuspected of having colored blood in its veins. Its mother claims that it is of purewhite extraction, and there is nothing in its appearance, other than the tendency ofits hair to “kink,” to raise a doubt of the mother’s veracity. There has been a highold time over it, all the same. The child has been examined by experts, solemn councilshave been held, and the whole city thrown into convulsions of discussion. Should it beultimately made plain that a child so nearly white as to make a decision doubtful, hasbeen admitted to the public school, but has an invisible mixture of African blood in itsveins, the schools will have to be suspended till fumigation of the buildings andpurgation of the white children have wiped out the terrible taint.The above is from the Gate City Press, and gives one an idea as to the height in theestimation of the chivalrous white brutes of the South the colored man has reached. Wedetest the abominable separate schools system because it savors of Bourbonism andbreeds just such prejudices as was manifested in Memphis.Discussion Questions‣ How difficult was it to enforce segregation?‣ What kind of laws did white Southerners need to invent in order to make it work?americainclass.org 21