Berea College v. Kentucky: A Landmark Case on Segregation in Education
Berea College v. Kentucky (1908) was a pivotal case argued before the United States Supreme Court that upheld the right of states to prohibit private educational institutions chartered as corporations from admitting both black and white students. The case, like Plessy v. Ferguson, featured a powerful dissent by Justice John Marshall Harlan.
Background: Berea College and the Day Law
Berea College, a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky, was founded in 1855 as a coeducational and desegregated school, admitting black and white students and treating them without discrimination. However, in 1904, the Kentucky legislature passed the "Day Law," named for Carl Day, a Democrat from Breathitt County, Kentucky, who introduced the bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives. The Day Law prohibited any person, group of people, or corporation from teaching black and white students in the same school or running separate branches of a school for teaching black and white students within twenty-five miles of each other. Since Berea was the only integrated school in Kentucky and the only such college in the South, it was clearly the target of this law.
The Supreme Court Decision
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state of Kentucky. Justice Brewer delivered the main opinion, asserting that as the corporation in question was chartered under the laws of Kentucky, it was within the state's rights to make such a prohibition to the college. The Court affirmed the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which had ruled in favor of the commonwealth, in a seven-to-two judgment. The Berea Court majority was careful not to overrule its earlier opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson. In fact, the Court extended Plessy's rationale to include institutions of higher education.
The Court was of the view that Kentucky was legally able to change a past charter of one of its corporations. In other words, even though Berea College was still legally incorporated, the Court asserted that officials in Kentucky could amend the institution's original charter through the subsequent legislation. In this way, then, the Day Law made it illegal for Berea College to admit both Black and White students. In essence, the Berea majority ignored the college's argument that because voluntary and private association was protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, it was beyond the scope of governmental regulation. To the contrary, the Court determined that because Kentucky could create Berea College as a corporation, commonwealth officials also had the legal authority to limit the activities of such corporations.
Harlan's Dissent
Justice John Marshall Harlan vigorously dissented, arguing that the formal title of the law, "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Persons from Attending the Same School," and the nature of its provisions made clear that no such distinction between individual and corporate restriction existed in the intentions of the legislators, and that the separate consideration of those aspects of the law was not appropriate. Harlan furthermore declared, "The capacity to impart instruction to others is given by the Almighty for beneficent purposes and its use may not be forbidden or interfered with by Government-certainly not, unless such instruction is, in its nature, harmful to the public morals or imperils the public safety. The right to impart instruction, harmless in itself or beneficial to those who receive it, is a substantial right of property-especially, where the services are rendered for compensation." Harlan warned that by allowing Kentucky to prohibit teaching Black and White students in the same school, the Court was opening the door to allow jurisdictions to regulate whether Blacks and Whites could voluntary worship next to one another. Harlan vehemently opposed the government's intrusion on private and voluntary association among the races.
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Harlan reasoned that the purpose of the Kentucky legislature in passing the Day Law was not simply to amend Berea College's charter. Rather, he reasoned that the title of the law, “An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Persons from Attending the Same School,” made it clear that its purpose was to segregate students on the basis of race. In light of this clear discriminatory legislative intent, Justice Harlan thought that it was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. Specifically, he pointed out that the right to teach was a protected property right and a fundamental liberty.
Significance and Aftermath
The result of the ruling was to allow states to prohibit integrated schooling in private institutions, as well as in public schools. Berea College was soon found to be in violation of the new legislation and was criminally convicted and fined $1,000 for violating the Day Law. Berea College appealed to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, which decided that the law had the legitimate purpose of preventing racial violence and interracial marriage. Thus, the law and Berea College's fine were permitted to stand.
Kentucky eventually amended the Day Law in 1950 to allow voluntary integration, shortly prior to the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
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tags: #Berea #College #v. #Kentucky #history
