Jim Crow legislation finally in jeopardy

A report on the present-day legacy of segregation in the public schools, issued by the Jim Crow Study Group at the University of Arizona, Tempe, has generated legislative action in Louisiana and Missouri. Other states are expected to follow.

In Missouri, House Bill 1631 proposes the elimination of references to a segregated reform school for "Negroes." In Louisiana, State Representative Cheryl Gray authored companion bills to repeal laws authorizing the closure of integrated public schools and the payment of teachers who are imprisoned for resisting integration. Both bills have been assigned to Louisiana's House Education Committee.

Law professor Gabriel Chin organized the group with Roger Hartley, a professor in the Eller College of Management and School of Public Administration and Policy. Both anticipate more legislative action in other states throughout this year and into 2005 legislative cycles.

"I'm very pleased that the students' work on this important issue has been received seriously," Chin says. "A number of legislatures were not in session when the report was issued, but when the remaining states have a chance to look at their laws, I am confident that they will agree that the time has come to get rid of Jim Crow, root and branch."

Among other state provisions identified by researchers are a section of the Alabama Constitution allowing parents to send their children to schools provided for their race only; a Georgia law permitting teachers at segregated private schools to join desirable state pension programs; a Mississippi statute condoning closure of integrated public schools; a South Carolina authorization for tuition grants to students in segregated public schools; a Virginia regulation suspending compulsory education laws if schools are integrated, and a West Virginia directive limiting the number of African-Americans hired as public school supervisors.

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