Massachusetts prohibits segregation in public schools.

Chapter 256 is passed by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by Gov. Henry Gardner. The law is a response to a petition submitted by William Cooper Nell and others that Boston join Charlestown, Roxbury, Cambridge and other communities to end segregation in its schools. It makes Massachusetts the first state in the U.S. to ban “separate schools [in which students are assigned based on] race, color, or religious opinions.” The law goes into effect in Boston in September 1855.*