1907
Oklahoma Constitution Requires School Oversight
The Oklahoma Constitution is amended to require the state legislature to oversee the creation of separate schools for “colored children.” The term “colored,” the amendment states, “shall be construed to mean children of African descent who possess any quantum of negro blood, and the term ‘white’ shall include all other persons.”11
1907
Texas Restricts Street Cars
A Texas law requires streetcar companies to designate separate seating areas for black riders. A passenger refusing to sit in the appropriate area must pay a fine of up to $25. That is $622.34 in 2017 dollars.
1907
Florida Restricts Railroads
Florida railroad companies must provide separate waiting rooms and ticket windows for black patrons at all stations. In addition, railway cars must be clearly marked “For White” or “For Colored.” Those companies that refuse to comply may be fined up to $5,000.
1908
Louisiana Increases Penalties
The Louisiana legislature revises an anti-miscegenation law first passed in 1894. The new penalty for interracial marriage is imprisonment for up to one year with hard labor. The statute will be renewed in 1910, 1932, 1951, and 1952. The legislature also votes to bar whites and blacks from buying or consuming alcohol on the same premises.
1908
Oklahoma Restricts Transportation
An Oklahoma law requires streetcar and railroad companies to separate white and black riders. Each segregated compartment is to be “divided by a board or marker, placed in a conspicuous place, bearing appropriate words in plain letters, indicating the race for which it is set apart.” A passenger refusing to sit in the designated area for his or her race must pay a fine of up to $25. Conductors who fail to enforce the law may be fined up to $500.12
1908
Oklahoma Raises Fines
In Oklahoma, a school instructor who violates state segregation laws can be fined up to $50 and may lose his or her teaching certificate. The parents of a white student who attends a “colored school” can be fined up to $20 per day.
1908
Wyoming Restricts Marriage
A Wyoming law prohibits “all marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolian or Malaya.”13 The statute will be renewed in 1913, 1931, and 1945.
1908
Colorado Restricts Marriage
Colorado prohibits interracial marriage. Offenders are subject to steep fines and imprisonment. Although the state bars segregation in public schools, inns, restaurants, churches, theaters, and other public accommodations, anti-miscegenation statutes will remain on the books until 1957.

Dec 26, 1908
First Black Boxing Title Winner
Up-and-coming black boxer Jack Johnson defeats the World Heavyweight Champion Tommy Burns in a bout held in Sydney, Australia. Johnson becomes the first black fighter to claim the title.
Dec 27, 1908
Journalists Urge White Boxer
Following Jack Johnson’s stunning victory against white heavyweight champion Tommy Burns, American journalists and boxing fans call for the retired champ Jim Jeffries to reclaim the title for the white race. “Jim Jeffries must now emerge from his alfalfa farm and remove that smile from Johnson’s face,” California journalist Jack London wrote in the New York Herald. “Jeff it’s up to you. The white man must be rescued.”14