The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-12-15

particularly true Oh inc laws pro-
hibiting intermarriage. The recent
constitution of Oklahoma provides
that separate schools for white and
colored children shall be maintained
THE term --.eolored ehildrea,, as
used in this section, shall be con-
strued to mean children of Afri-
can descent. The term white chill
dren' shall include all other chill
dren."
Picking these definitions, many
Of them, out of the midst OF other
statutes, l find that Alabama, Ken
lucky, Maryland Mississippi North
Carolina Tennessee and Texas define
one as a person of color who is des-
| cended from a Negro to the third
generation inclusive though one an
cestor in each generation may
have been white. Florida, Georgia.
Indiana, MINNESOTA, Missouri and
South Carolina declare that one is a
person Of color who has as much as
one-eighth Negro blood; Nebraska
and Oregon say that one must have
as much as one-fourth Negro blood
! i'll order to be classed with that
race. Virginia and Michigan ap-
parently draw the line similarly. In
Virginia, marriage between a
white man and a woman who is less
| NIL
It be drop less, is legal. A woman
whose father was white and whose
mothers father was white, and
whose mothers father was white,
whose great grandfather was of
! brown complexion, is not Negro in
the sense Of the statute In 1867,
Michigan, which at the time limited
the suffrage to white male citi-
zens,' held that all persons should
be considered white who had less
than one-fourth Of African blood.
That State also gave the right to
vote to male inhabitants of Indian
descent, but it held that a person
fourth or three-eighths African, and
the rest white was not included III
that class. Ohio limited the suffrage
to white male citizens and made it
the duty of the judges of election to
challenge any one with a "distinct
land visible admixture of African
| h,,t No ln4
held unconstitutional in 1867, the
lcourt saying that where the white
blood predominated in a person he
is to be considered white. This def
milton is interesting because it is the
only instance that l have found Of
a courts saying that person with
more than half white blood and the
rest Negro should be considered
white. In contrast with this is this
sweeping definition Of Tennessees:
All Negroes, Mnlattoes, Mestizoes,
all their defendants having any
African blood in their veins, shall
be known in this State as Persons
~ l.
statute separating the races in trains
includes among persons Of color all
who have "a visible and distinct
admixture Of African blood.
In everyday language, mulatto
is any person having both Caucasian
and Negro blood. But several
States have defined muIatto specifi-
cally. The Supreme Court Of la
bama said, in 1850 that a mulatto
is the off spring Of Negro and a
white person, that the offspring of
white person and muIatto is not
a mulatto; but this was enlarged in
1867 to include any one descended
from Negro ancestors to the third
generation inclusive, though one an
cestor IN each generation be white.
Missouri has this definition: Every
person other than Negro, any one
or whose grandfathers or grand
mothers is or shall have been a Me-
gro, although his or her other
pTogen1tors, except those descending
from Negro, may have been white
persons, shall be deemed a. mulatto,
ana every such person who
shall have one-fourth or more Ne
gro blood shall in like manner be
deemed mulatto In effect, the
definitions Of Alabama and Missouri
are the same.
Some States have allowed facts
other than physical characteristics
to be presumptive Of race. If one
was a slave in 1865, it is to be
presumed that he was Negro. The