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Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866-1955

The State of Tennessee enacted 20 Jim Crow laws between 1866 and 1955, including six requiring school segregation, four which outlawed miscegenation, three which segregated railroads, two requiring segregation for public accommodations, and one which mandated segregation on streetcars.  The 1869 law declared that no citizen could be excluded from the University of Tennessee because of race or color but then mandated that instructional facilities for black students be separate from those used by white students.  As of 1954, segregation laws for miscegenation, transportation and public accommodation were still in effect.

1866: Education [Statute]

Separate schools required for white and black children

1869: Barred school segregation [Statute]

While no citizen of Tennessee could be excluded from attending the University of Tennessee on account of his race or color, the accommodation and instruction of persons of color shall be separate from those for white persons.

1870: Miscegenation [Constitution]

Intermarriage prohibited between white persons and Negroes, or descendants of Negro ancestors to the third generation.

1870: Miscegenation [Statute]

Penalty for intermarriage between whites an blacks was labeled a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to five years.

1870: Education [Statute]

Schools for white and colored children to be kept separate.

1873: Education [Statute]

White and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school, but in separate schools under the same general regulations as to management, usefulness and efficiency.

1875: Public accommodations [Statute]

Hotel keepers, carriers of passengers and keepers of places of amusement have the right to control access and exclude persons as that of any private person over his private house.

1881: Railroads [Statute]

Railroad companies required to furnish separate cars for colored passengers who pay first-class rates. Cars to be kept in good repair, and subject to the same rules governing other first-class cars for

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