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This section was repealed August 5, 1969.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Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition.

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

Online Resources