Primary Source: 1912 Winston Salem Segregation Ordinance Enacted

The following is an excerpt from the 1912 Winston Salem Segregation Ordinance that specified that white and black people were not legally allowed to occupy some of the same spaces. Laws like these were enacted to keep black people separate from white people, and punish black people that sought to use white amenities and spaces.



Excerpt from City of Winston Government Meetings Notes

Town of Winston: 1907-1913


July 5,1912-


SEGREGATION ORDINANCE ENACTED-1912


“To secure for White and Colored People Respectively the Separate Location of Residence for each Race, Be it Ordained by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Winston


“1st-That it be unlawful for any White person to occupy as a residence or to establish and maintain as a place of public assembly, any house upon any street or alley between two adjacent streets on which a greater number of houses are occupied as residences by colored people than are occupied by white people.


“2nd-That it shall be unlawful for any colored person to occupy as a residence or to 26 establish and maintain as a place of public assembly, any house upon any street or alley between two adjacent streets on which a greater number of houses are occupied as residence by white people than are occupied as residence by colored people.


“3rd-That no person shall construct or locate on any block or square on which there is at this time no residence, any house or building intended to be used as a residence , without declaring in his application for a permit to build, whether the house or building so to be constructed is designed to be occupied by white or colored people, and the people authorized to issue building permits of the City of Winston shall not issue any permit in such case unless the applicant complies with the provisions of this section.


“4th That nothing in this ordinance shall affect the location of residences made previous to the approval of this ordinance, and nothing herein shall be so construed as to prevent the occupation of residences by white and colored servants or employees, on the square or block on which they are employed.”



[The fine was $50 or 30 days in jail. Winston-Salem was one of the first cities, following Richmond, Virginia to enact block-by-block segregation. A Supreme Court challenge in 1914 ruled the laws unconstitutional.]


https://www.cityofws.org/1079/Town-of-Winston


https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/2835/Winston-1907-to-1913-PDF/

 

Citation for this ANCHOR page

Winston Salem, Directing Board. "Winston: 1907-1913," City of Winston Government Meetings Notes.  https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/2835/Winston-1907-to-1913-PDF (accessed August 9, 2018).