CHAPTER 459 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INSTITUTION FOR THE CARE OF FEEBLE MINDED NEGRO CHILDREN IN NORTH CAROLINA. WHEREAS, pursuant to a joint resolution of the General Assembly of one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, the Governor appointed a commission composed of Honorable Thomas OBerry, Chairman, Honorable K. A. Pittman, Honorable W. Frank Taylor, Honorable Robert P. Burns, and Honorable Charles F. Honeycutt, to inquire into the conditions, care, treat- ment, and training of the negro feeble minded in the Goldsboro State Hospital for the Insane, and other similar institutions of the State, with the view of ,recommending a program for the care and training of the feeble minded negro children, to the end that they might be placed under the supervision of people skilled in giving the right kind of care and treatment to such children, and investigate the advisability and possibility of se- curing additional facilities for institutional care and treatment of such children; and WHEREAS, the said committee, after having fully complied with the intent of said resolution, has made its report to the Governor, revealing that there are some one thousand feeble | minded negro children in the State in need of hespital care or training, and recommending that a suitable hospital for the treatment of such children be built near the site and in con- junction with the State Hospital for Negroes at Goldsboro, sufficient to take care of at least six hundred patients, reference to which re port is hereby made for more detailed recommen- dations; and WHEREAS, it is the desire of the General Assembly of North Carolina that the recommendations of said committee be sub- stantially complied with as early as feasible: Now, therefore, The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That an institution, to be known and designated as, The Negro Training School for Feeble Minded Children, is hereby created and such institution is authorized and empowered to accept and use donations and appropriations and do all other things necessary and requisite to be done in furtherance of the purpose of its organization and existence as herein set forth.
Section 2. The said institution shall be under the control of the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control, and whenever the words, Board, Directors or Board of Directors are used in this Act with reference to the governing board of said institution, the same shall mean the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control, and said board shall exercise the same powers and perform the same duties with respect to the Negro Training School for Feeble Minded Children, as it exercises and performs with respect to the other institutions under its control, except as may in this Act be otherwise provided.
Section 4. That in order to provide for the operation of the said institution prior to the*time that permanent quarters can be established, the board of directors, with the approval of the Governor and Council of State, is authorized and empowered to enter into an agreement with any other State institution er agency for the temporary use of any State owned property which such other State institution or agency may be able and willing to divert for the time being from its original purpose; and any other State institution or agency, which may be in possession of real estate suitable for the purpose of the Negro Training School for Feeble Minded Children upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon.
Section 7. The purpose and aim of the Negro Training School for Feeble Minded Children is to segregate, care for, train, and educate, as their mentality will permit, the mental defectives among th negro children of the State; to disseminate knowledge concerning the extent, nature, and menace of mental deficiency and initiate methods for its control, reduction, and ultimate eradication and to that end, subject to such rules and regulations as the board of directors may adopt, there shall be received into said school feeble minded and mentally defective children of the negro race under the age of twenty-one years when, in the judgment of the board of directors, it is deemed advisable. Application for the admission of a child must be made by the father if the mother and father are living together, and if not, by the one having custody, or by a duly appointed guardian or by the superintendent of any county home or by person having management of any orphanage, association, society, childrens home, or other institution for the care of children to which the custody of such child has been committed, in which event the consent of the parents shall not be required. The applications for admission must be approved by the superintendent of public welfare and the judge of juvenile court of the county wherein the applicant resides.
Section 8. The board of directors is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate rules, regulations, and conditions of admission of pupils to the school and in cases in which the parents or guardian of a child are financially able, shall require such parent or guardian to transport the child to the school and make such contribution toward maintenance as may to the board of directors seem proper and just.
Section 10. For the protection of the pupils residing in the school, it shall be unlawful: (a) For any person to advise, or solicit, or to offer to advise or solicit, any inmate of said school to escape therefrom; (b) For any person to transport, or to offer to transport, in automobile or other conveyance any inmate of said school to or from any place: Provided, this shall not apply to the superintendent and teachers of said school, or to employees or any other person acting under the superintendent and teachers thereof; (c) For any person to engage in, or to offer to engage in, prostitution with any inmate of said school; (d) For any person to receive, or to offer to receive, any inmate of said school into any place, structure, building or conveyance for the purpose of prostitution, or to solicit any inmate of said school to engage in prostitution; (e) For any person to conceal an escaped inmate of said school, or to furnish clothing to an escaped inmate thereof to enable him or her to conceal his or her identity. The term inmate as used in this section shall be construed to include any and all boys and girls, committed to, or received into, said Negro Training School for Feeble Minded Children under the provisions of the law made and provided for the receiving and committing of persons to said school; and the term prostitution shall be construed to include the offering or receiving of the body for sexual intercourse. Any person who shall knowingly and wilfully violate Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined or imprisoned, or both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court; that any person who shall knowingly and wilfully violate Subsections (c), (d) and (e) of this section shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be fined or imprisoned, or both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.