Article VII, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution

This section was repealed August 5, 1969.

Editor Comments

As adopted in 1876, this section read: "Separate schools shall be provided for the white and colored children, and impartial provision shall be made for both."

The former section, never amended, mandated that so-called "separate but equal" educational facilities be provided for the state's African-American children.

Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition in 1969.

—Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

• McKinney v. Blankenship, 282 S.W.2d 691, 695 (Tex. 1955) ("Even a casual reading of Section 7 of Article VII of the Constitution and Article 2900 of the statutes will make clear that they have a two-fold purpose: they require segregation of white and Negro students in the public schools of this state and they require that equal and impartial provision be made for the education of both. . . . When the language of the Court is so limited it will be evident that what the Court condemned as unconstitutional and void, and all it condemned, was constitutional, statutory, and local law provisions which require or permit forced segregation through and by governmental officers and agencies.")

Library Resources

• Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)

• The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

• The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

Online Resources

• Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)

• Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)

• Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)