Must Admit Them
April 4, 1896
Summary
An early court case about segregation rules that schools must be integrated.
Transcription
108 Fulton St, New York City.
Alfred C. Cowan, Attorney and Counsellor at Law wins a great victory over his white brother in the New York Supreme Court. The colored citizens of the village of Jamaica have achieved a great victory over the Board of Education of that place, who refused to admit colored children residing in the district to the white schools.
In September 1895, the colored residents and tax-payers in accordance to a notice issued by the Board of Education to the parents of the village of Jamaica to send their children to school, the colored people of the said village obeyed the notice and sent their children to the school nearest to where they lived, but the colored children were not admitted and were sent home and told to go to the colored school which had been set apart for them more than 40 years, but owing to the inferiority of which there has not been a single colored child who has aver graduated from the grammar course.
The colored people employed Counsellor Alfred C. Cowan to take legal steps to see why the colored children should not be permitted and allowed to attend the school in the district where they lived. Counsellor at once proceeded and obtained an order to show cause from the Supreme Court directing the Board of Education to give a reason why the colored people should not be allowed to send their children to the schools in their respective districts.
After a long legal technical procedure, Counsellor Alfred C. Cowan has achieved a great victory, having met his opponent in four contests and defeated him each time; having won the last contest before his honor, Joseph F. Barnard, one of the judges of the Supreme Court secured an able opinion in which he said: "It is merely prejudice which keeps a colored child from the school provided for his white associates. It is a foolish remembrance of the conditions of slavery by which the colored race were held to be inferior to the white race. This prejudice and the remembrance ought to disappear. If the Board of Education of Jamaica will visit Poughkeepsie, they will see how fully the colored child and the white child harmonize and how well the colored child keeps up with the general scholarships, demurrer over-ruled with seventy-two dollars cost."
It will also be remembered that Counsellor T. McCants Stewart had a similar proceeding on behalf of a Miss Frazer, a colored teacher who was refused the right to take charge of a white school, but he was defeated. Miss Frazer was on the eligible list. She was defeated in the legal proceedings, but it was the means of perfecting a compromise whereby one is now teaching.
But, the victory for Counselor Cowan an is one of which every colored person ought to be proud. He has proved that he is in every way capable to handle the most difficult and technical proceedings, also, that he is a true race man, having fought the case almost at his own expense.
Alfred C. Cowan, Attorney and Counsellor at Law wins a great victory over his white brother in the New York Supreme Court. The colored citizens of the village of Jamaica have achieved a great victory over the Board of Education of that place, who refused to admit colored children residing in the district to the white schools.
In September 1895, the colored residents and tax-payers in accordance to a notice issued by the Board of Education to the parents of the village of Jamaica to send their children to school, the colored people of the said village obeyed the notice and sent their children to the school nearest to where they lived, but the colored children were not admitted and were sent home and told to go to the colored school which had been set apart for them more than 40 years, but owing to the inferiority of which there has not been a single colored child who has aver graduated from the grammar course.
The colored people employed Counsellor Alfred C. Cowan to take legal steps to see why the colored children should not be permitted and allowed to attend the school in the district where they lived. Counsellor at once proceeded and obtained an order to show cause from the Supreme Court directing the Board of Education to give a reason why the colored people should not be allowed to send their children to the schools in their respective districts.
After a long legal technical procedure, Counsellor Alfred C. Cowan has achieved a great victory, having met his opponent in four contests and defeated him each time; having won the last contest before his honor, Joseph F. Barnard, one of the judges of the Supreme Court secured an able opinion in which he said: "It is merely prejudice which keeps a colored child from the school provided for his white associates. It is a foolish remembrance of the conditions of slavery by which the colored race were held to be inferior to the white race. This prejudice and the remembrance ought to disappear. If the Board of Education of Jamaica will visit Poughkeepsie, they will see how fully the colored child and the white child harmonize and how well the colored child keeps up with the general scholarships, demurrer over-ruled with seventy-two dollars cost."
It will also be remembered that Counsellor T. McCants Stewart had a similar proceeding on behalf of a Miss Frazer, a colored teacher who was refused the right to take charge of a white school, but he was defeated. Miss Frazer was on the eligible list. She was defeated in the legal proceedings, but it was the means of perfecting a compromise whereby one is now teaching.
But, the victory for Counselor Cowan an is one of which every colored person ought to be proud. He has proved that he is in every way capable to handle the most difficult and technical proceedings, also, that he is a true race man, having fought the case almost at his own expense.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Liam Eynan
Citation
“Must Admit Them,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1668.