In March 1904 , Beckham signed the Day Law mandating racial segregation of all schools in Kentucky . Berea College , a private college in eastern Kentucky that had been integrated since the 1850s , immediately filed suit to challenge the law . The substance of the law was upheld in the circuit court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals . Berea appealed to the Supreme Court , and in 1908 the court handed down an 8 – 1 decision against the college . Only John Marshall Harlan dissented .