The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. That the board of commissioners of the county of Edgecombe are hereby authorized to submit to the qualified voters of Tarboro township in said county on the first Monday in April, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, under such rules and regulations as said board may prescribe, whether an annual tax shall be levied therein for the support of a graded public school for the white children and a graded public school for the colored children in said township. Each voter shall vote a written or printed ballot with the words "for school" or "no school," and said election shall be conducted under the same rules and regulations and penalties as are prescribed by law for the election of members of the general assembly.

Sec. 2. That in case a majority of the qualified voters of said township shall be in favor of such tax, the same shall be levied and collected in the same manner as provided by law for levying and collecting state and county taxes, and the sheriff of Edgecombe County shall collect and pay over the same to the county treasurer under the same liabilities as are now provided by law for the collection and paying over of county school taxes: Provided, that the special tax so levied and collected shall not exceed one-third of one per centum on property and one dollar on the poll.

Sec. 3. That the special tax thus levied and collected from the taxable property and polls of white persons shall be expended in keeping up a graded public school in said township for white persons of both sexes between the ages of six and twenty-one years, and the special taxes thus levied and collected from the taxable property and polls of colored persons shall be expended in keeping up a graded public school in said township for colored persons of both sexes between the ages of six and twenty-one years.

Sec. 4. That George Howard, N. M. Lawrence, C. J. Austin, J. B. Coffield, T. H. Gatling, E. C. Farrar and R. C. Brown be and they are hereby constituted a board of trustees for the whites; that said board shall have power to fill all vacancies occurring in said board, to employ teachers and do all such acts as shall be necessary to carry on said graded school for the white children.

Sec. 5. That John C. Dancy, H. C. Cherry, Victor E. Howard, Benjamin Norfleet, Edward Zoella, Henry S. Spragins and W. H. Knight be and they are hereby constituted a board of trustees for the graded school for the colored children; that said board shall have power to fill all vacancies occurring in said board, to employ teachers and do all such acts as shall be necessary to carry on said graded school for the colored children.

Sec. 6. That the public school money which shall from time to time be collected under the general school law for public school purposes for the white children in said township, shall be applied for keeping up the public graded school for the whites, under the orders and directions of the board of trustees for said graded public school for white children.

Sec. 7. That the public school money which shall from time to time be collected under the general school law for public school purposes for the colored children in said township, shall be applied for keeping up the public graded school for the colored children, under the orders and directions of the board of trustees for said graded school for the colored children.

Sec. 8. That the county treasurer of Edgecombe County, and his sureties on his official bond, shall be responsible for the proper disbursement of all moneys collected under this Act.

Sec. 9. That no trustees of either of said graded schools shall, while acting as such, be a teacher therein.

Sec. 10. This Act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

In the general assembly read three times, and ratified this the 7th day of March, A.D. 1883.

Thomas J. Jarvis, Governor
George M. Rose, Speaker of the House of Representatives
James L. Robinson, Lt. Governor and President of the Senate

State of North Carolina,
Office of Secretary of State,
Raleigh, May 24th, 1883.

I, William L. Saunders, Secretary of State, hereby
certify that the foregoing (manuscript) are true copies of
the original acts and resolutions on file in this office.

William L. Saunders,
Secretary of State.