Louisiana Separate Act of 1890
Act of Louisiana - 1890. An Act.
Railway Companies Required to Furnish Separate Accommodations for White and Colored Persons.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State, shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodation; provided that this section shall not be construed to apply to street railroads. No person or persons shall be permitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to.
Duties of Officers of Passenger Trains.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That the officers of such passenger trains shall have power and are hereby required to assign each passenger to the coach or compartment used for the race to which such passenger belongs; any passenger insisting on going into a coach or compartment to which by race he does not belong, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars or in lieu thereof to imprisonment for a period of not more than twenty days in the parish prison and any officer of any railroad insisting on assigning a passenger to a coach or compartment other than the one set aside for the race to which said passenger belongs . shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars or in lieu thereof imprisonment for a period of not more than twenty days in the parish prison; and should any passenger refuse to occupy the coach or compartment to which he or she is assigned by the officer of such railway, said officer shall have power to refuse to carry such passenger on his train, and for such refusal neither he nor the railway company which he represents shall be liable for damages in any of the courts of this State.
Officers and Directors Refusing or Neglecting to Comply with this Act to be Deemed Guiltyof a Misdemeanor.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, etc., That all officers and directors of railway companies that shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions and requirements of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars; and any conductor or other employees of such passenger train, having charge of the same, who shall refuse or neglect to carry out the provisions of this act shall on conviction be fined not less than twentyfive dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offense; all railroad corporations' carrying passengers in this State other than street railroads shall keep this law posted up in a conspicuous place in each passenger coach and ticket office, provided that nothing in this act shall be construed as applying to nurses attending children of the other race.
REPEALING CLAUSE.
Sec. 4. Be it further, Resolved, That all laws or parts of laws contrary to or inconsistent with the provision of this act be and the same are hereby repealed, and that this act shall take effect and be in full force ninety days after its promulgation. Approved July 10th, 1890.
FRANCIS T. NICHOLIS, Governor of the State of Louisiana. A true copy from the original: L. F. MASON, Secretary of State. (1).
FOOTNOTES:
1. R.H. Boyd, The separate or "Jim Crow" car laws or legislative enactments of fourteen southern states.. (Nashville: National Baptist Pub. Board, 1909), 25-7. (Retrieved online: googlebooks.com)