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Segregation

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The Florida Supreme Court (''[[Pensacola Journal]]'' wrote after the law went into effect, "there is but little patronage from the colored citizens at present, but the increase in white traffic has made up for this, and the street cars are well patronized as before the boycott of colored residents was begun."<ref>"Jim Crow Law Now In Effect." ''Florida Pensacola Journal'', July 2, 1905.</ref> In Jacksonville, an African-American minister named Andrew Patterson was arrested for violating the law, and his resulting lawsuit, ''Patterson v. PattersonFlorida'') , contested the legality of segregation. On [[July 29]], less than a month after the Jim Crow law went into effect, the Florida Supreme Court found for the plaintiff and struck down the Avery law a month after its passageas unconstitutional — not in opposition of segregation per se, but because Section 7 of the act allowed "colored nurses having the care of white children or sick persons" to accompany their charges in the white section, "thus discriminating between the races" in violation of the [[Wikipedia:Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]].<ref>"Florida 'Jim Crow' Law Void." ''New York Times'', July 30, 1905.</ref> Thereafter, after which the ''Pensacola Journal'' noted, "The negroes began to ride early and it was noticeable that they almost invariably occupied the front seats."<ref name="ortiz"/>
However, segregation was soon reinstituted when the [[City of Pensacola]] passed an ordinance (sponsored by the [[Pensacola Chamber of Commerce|Chamber of Commerce]]) using modified Avery language. The ordinance was vetoed by [[Pensacola Mayor|Mayor]] [[Charles H. Bliss]], out of concerns that it would also be found unconstitutional, but was passed by the council regardless. It went into effect on [[October 13]], 1905.