The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-08
COLOR LINE I'M SCHOOLS.

The controversy between the board of
education and the colored people of
Lowman Hill over the Douglass school
has at last developed into what it was
always supposed to be; dispute as to
the separation of the white and the col
ored pupils.
When the board decided to move the
Douglass school building to the corner
of Brooks and Munson avenues for the
use of the colored children of Lowman
Hill, a protest was made by many of
the colored people there. A delegation
armed with a petition appeared before
the board and protested against the
Douglass school being set apart for the
use of the colored children. At that
meeting of the school board A. Il. Allen,
the spokesman of the colored people.
announced that he and his neighbors
wished to protest against the Douglass
school because it was not in slightly
and pleasant location. because it was
on low ground and unhealthful. because
the building was not in good repair,
because it was not centrally located
and because the water in the well was
not good. He announced, and the mem
bers of the delegation maintained, that
the question of a separation of the
white and the colored children had not
entered into the minds of the colored
people in making their protest but that
the reasons given were alone RESPONSE
BILE for the petition laid before the board
asking for better accommodations for
the colored children.
Then the board of education assured
the colored people that everything
would be done to make the school for
the colored children in Lowman Hill up
to the standard of the city schools in
other localities. A resolution was in
troduced by P. I. Bonebrake that the
Douglass building be put in the best
possible condition, that it be reprinted,
that the interior he refinished and that
the yard be paved. The resolution was
for the purpose of exhibiting to the col
ored people of Lowman Hill that the
intention of the board was to treat them
justly and with consideration. Tt was
the unofficial sentiment of the board
that the water in the well be examined
for the purpose of determining whether
the water was pure. The well had been
in constant use for years and before
there had never been complaint.
After the colored people had been as
sured that their school would be equal
to any in Topeka their position changed
and they refused to accept the school
under any conditions. Then the board
of education ceased to treat with the
people and refused to make any con-
cessions. Now the trouble will go be-
fore the court, if the colored people do
not recede from their position, and the
question whether the Kansas law giving
boards of education in cities of the first
class power to separate the colored and
white children in the graded schools is
legal or not. The law was once held by
David J. Brewer, who was chief justice
of the Kansas supreme court to be con-
The custom in Topeka for several
years has been that on the north side
of the river the white and colored chill
dren shall attend separate schools up
to the sixth grade and that in only the
sixth, seventh and eighth grades shall
they attend the same schools. On the
south side of the river the rule has been
that the seventh and eighth grades only
are mixed. The high school is open to
both colored and white pupils.
Counting the Douglass school there
are six buildings now for colored school
children. Lane has about 200 colored
pupils. Madison about 40, Washington
about 160, Monroe about 100 and Blu
chanan about 40.