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Civil Rights Act, 1875
Whereas it is essential to just government we
recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that
it is the duty of government in its dealings with the people to
mete Out equal and exact justice to all, of what ever nativity,
race, color, or persuasion, religious or political; and it being
the appropriate object of legislation to enact great fundamental
principles into law: Therefore,
Be It enacted, That all persons within the
jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full
and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages,
facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land
or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement;
subject only to the conditions and limitations established by
law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color,
regardless of any previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the
foregoing section by denying to any citizen, except for reasons
by law applicable to citizens of every race and color, and
regardless of any previous condition of servitude, the full
enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,
or privileges in said section enumerated, or by aiding or
inciting such denial, shall, for every such offense, forfeit and
pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved
thereby, . and shall also, for every such offense, be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand
dollars, or shall be imprisoned not less than thirty days nor
more than one year. .
Sec. 3. That the district and circuit courts
of the United States shall have, exclusively of the courts of
the several States, cognizance of all crimes and offenses
against, and violations of, the provisions of this act. .
Sec. 4. That no citizen possessing all other
qualifications which are or may be prescribed by law shall be
disqualified for service as grand or petit juror in any court of
the United States, or of any State, on account of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude; and any officer or other
person charged with any duty in the selection or summoning of
jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon any citizen for the
cause aforesaid shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and be fined not more than five thousand
dollars.
Sec. 5. That all cases arising under the
provisions of this act . . . shall be renewable by the Supreme
Court of the United States, without regard to the sum in
controversy. ...
U. S. Statutes at Large, XVIII, pp.335 ff.
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Mustered out black volunteers
rejoin their loved ones in little Rock, Arkansas |
Threat to a White Teacher
of a Negro School
in Pike County, Alabama, 1875
September 20th 1875
Mr. Banks we thought we would
give you a chance to save yourself one of the worst scourings
that a man ever got and you can do so by reading this note and
acting upon its contents. You have set up a Digger school in the
settlement which we will not allow you to teach if you was a
full blooded negro we would have nothing to say but a white skin
negro is a little more than we can stand you can dismiss the
school imediately or prepar yourself to travail we will give you
a chance to save yourself and you had better move instanter.
Our little band calls
themselves The Writing Straitners and if you dont leave this
settlement with your negro children we will straten you.
State Journal, October 4, 1875. Given in Walter L.
Fleming's Documentary History of Reconstruction. II, p.
206. The notice was dated September 20, 1875. Fleming says that
"Such notices were sent to obnoxious
teachers, especially in the white districts after 1870."
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update 22 July
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