The bonds of war: civil rights in the frontier Great Plains
Board of Education of Ottawa v. Tinnon – Kansas, 1881 (26 Kan. 1); Messenger v. State – Nebraska, 1889 (41 N.W. 638); Knox v. Board of Education of Independence – Kansas, 1891 (26 P. 616); Reynolds v. Board of Education of City of Topeka – Kansas, 1903 (72 P. 274)
| Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, leader of the "Exoduster" migration of freed slaves into Kansas (1877) - courtesy Wikimedia Commons “Is it not better for the grand aggregate of human society, as well as for individuals, that all children should mingle together and learn to live with each other? … As a rule, people cannot afford to be ignorant of the society which surrounds them; and as all kinds of people must live together in the same society, it would seem to be better that all should be taught in the same schools.” - Justice __, in Tinnon
“I think free schools mean equal school advantages to every child, leaving questions of classification … to be determined by the wisdom of the local authorities.” – Justice David Brewer (dissenting), in Tinnon “Such prejudices are unworthy of our better manhood.” – Justice __, in Messenger |
EMPIRE OF LAWS - The Legal History of the 50 American States > 8. GREAT PLAINS LEGAL HISTORY > 8.1 The Great Plains: The Frontier Era (1850-1900) > 8.1.1 Great Plains (1850-1900): Constitutions As Barometers of Social Change >