What is Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education?

Answer 1

Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education,175 US 528 (1899)

This case, generally referred to as "Richmond," was a class action suit brought against a Georgia county school board and the local taxing authority demanding relief from a portion of the taxes levied against African-American property owners. The Petitioners objected to paying the part of the tax used to support two "whites-only" high schools after Richmond County closed its private African-American high school.

Richmond is often cited as specifically sanctioning de jure (statutory) segregation in public schools; however, if the Plaintiffs intended to challenge segregation, they chose an unusual approach that left too many opportunities for side-stepping the issue. In the end, the Supreme Court declined to consider an Equal Protection charge against the school board due to the way the case was presented and the form of relief requested.


Litigation

Richmond County, Georgia (Augusta, GA area) sought a $45,000 tax for the support of County-subsidized schools, to be levied against all residents and property owners in the County. At issue was the fact that Richmond had suspended operation of the only county-owned private African-American high school on July 10, 1897, purportedly for economic reasons. The school board claimed it was unable to maintain the high school due to a marked increase in enrollment of primary-school aged African-American children and lack of building space in which to educate them.

The school board claimed it had insufficient funds to build new primary schools for 300 younger African-American children, but that it could convert the high school building to accommodate their needs. This removed the opportunity for a private, county-run high school education from the 60 African-American students who had attended the high school.

The petitioners argued that the Richmond County "[school] board was not authorized by law to levy any tax for the support of a system of high schools in which the colored school population of the county were not given the same educational facilities as were furnished the white school population," under the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Therefore, they argued, the African-American taxpayers' portion of the school tax should be reduced by the amount of money allocated for the two "whites only" high schools, which the Plaintiffs estimated to be approximately $4,500.

The County denied having established a system of high schools, and said it had neither the duty nor authority to create such a system, although it had the authority to establish, at its discretion, individual high schools where it believed there was a need and the financing was available. The two "white" schools, a boys' preparatory school run by a Baptist organization, and a girls' high school built as a result of a dedicated gift to the county, were private schools that charged a tuition ($15 per year), and were only subsidized by the county. Ware High School, built in 1880, had been a county-owned "private" school for African-American children that charged a tuition of $10 per year.

The County argued that the system of "free schools" in the area provided equal facilities, materials and educational opportunities for both races, and that there were three "private" high schools for African-American students in the city of Augusta, the county seat. The school board believed this fulfilled their statutory obligation to provide equal education.

The petitioners filed a motion in the Georgia state courts seeking to enjoin the tax collector from assessing African-American taxpayers any portion of the levy allocated for the exclusive use of the whites-only high schools. Although the lower court refused to issue an injunction against the tax collection, it enjoined Richmond County from using "any funds or property then held by it or thereafter to come into its hands for educational purposes in the county for the support, maintenance, or operation of that system; and that they have such other and further relief as was equitable and just."

The lower court order was suspended until the Georgia Supreme Court could rule on the matter. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed the lower court decision and dismissed the plaintiffs' petition, which the plaintiffs insisted was a derogation of their constitutional rights. The state Court claimed the attorney for the petitioners did not specify in his brief what paragraph or clause of the Fourteenth Amendment had been violated, rendering the justices unable to reach a decision on that point.

Cumming et al. petitioned the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to consider the illegality of the tax burden Richmond County imposed on them in light of Fourteenth Amendment protections.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that, because the three high schools in question charged tuition, and because the County had only "established" the white girls' school and the "temporarily" closed Ware High School, the issue did not merit evaluation under the Fourteenth Amendment. They also did not believe the amendment had been violated.

Justice Harlan, in delivering the Opinion of the Court, stated that the tax was a burden shared by the entire community, and that it was impracticable to distribute the funds equally. Further, the plaintiffs had made no complaint against the county "free schools," which complied with Fourteenth Amendment protections.

In the Court's opinion, the tax did not discriminate against African-Americans any more than it did the white people in the county. Justice Harlan asserted, "A taxpayer who has boys and no girls of a school age has as much right to complain of the unequal distribution of the taxes to a girls' high school as have these plaintiffs. The action of the board appears to us to be more a discrimination as to sex than it does as to race. While the board appropriates some money to assist a denominational school for white boys and girls, it has never established a high school for white boys, and, if the contention of these plaintiffs is correct, white parents who have boys old enough to attend a high school have as much right to complain as these plaintiffs..."

The Georgia Constitution prescribed: "'There shall be a thorough system of common schools for the education of children in the elementary branches of an English education only, as nearly uniform as practicable, the expenses of which shall be provided for by taxation, or otherwise. The schools shall be free to all children of the state, but separate schools shall be provided for the white and colored races.' Art. 8, 1."

In addition, the Court stated the Plaintiffs had not raised the question of the "separate but equal" doctrine and, therefore, the Court could not rule on that issue.

Finally, the Court concluded that public taxation for the purpose of supporting the schools was a state's rights issue that fell outside federal jurisdiction, except in cases of "clear and unmistakable disregard of rights secured by the supreme law of the land." The Court lacked jurisdiction over the tax issue, and affirmed the judgment of the State.


Legal Ramifications

While the US Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine established under Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896), the practice of segregation was supported by implication. Brown v. Board of Education, (1954) overturned de jure segregation, which was touched upon in Cumming v. Richmond, in that the private schools discussed in Richmond would eventually be required to integrate, rendering the tax apportionment moot.