19th-century African-American civil rights activists
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Although not often highlighted in American history, before Rosa Parks changed America when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus in December 1955, 19th century African-American civil rights activists worked strenuously from the 1850s until the 1880s for the cause of equal treatment in public transportation.
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[edit] Background
The 381-day long Montgomery Bus Boycott of the city bus system that followed Rosa Parks' conviction precipitated the revival of the American civil rights movement, which had been dormant since 1883, when the US Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875. But before the Supreme Court's decision in 1883, there had been instances of courageous and deliberate action by individual African-Americans to further the cause of equal access to public transport. In each instance discussed below, the victims of disparate treatment in public transport turned to the courts to seek vindication and change. The results were mixed. Also, what was missing from the equation in most cases was a concerted effort by the larger African-American community to back the individual's effort with community-based efforts, as occurred in the case of Rosa Parks in 1955.
After Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, it did not pass another civil rights law until 1957.
[edit] Elizabeth Jennings
In 1854, Elizabeth Lizzie Jennings, a 24-year-old black schoolteacher waited at a New York City corner to board a horse-drawn bus to take her to church, where she played the organ. In pre-Civil War Manhattan, black residents could ride either buses bearing big "Colored Persons Allowed" signs or, at the discretion of the driver, any other buses without such a sign. Drivers on those unmarked buses carried whips to keep undesirable passengers off.
Jennings chose a bus without the "Colored Persons Allowed" sign. A local newspaper of the day described what happened next: "She got upon one of the Company's cars to ride to church. The conductor undertook to get her off, first alleging the car was full; when that was shown to be false, he pretended the other passengers were displeased at her presence; but [when] she insisted on her rights, he took hold of her by force to expel her. She resisted."
The newspaper reported: "The conductor got her down on the platform, jammed her bonnet, soiled her dress and injured her person. Quite a crowd gathered, but she effectually resisted. Finally, after the car had gone on further, with the aid of a policeman they succeeded in removing her."
This was not the end of it. Not satisfied with the massive rally that took place the following day at her church, Jennings took the bus company to court.
Represented by future US president Chester A. Arthur, she won $225 in damages. Just one day after the verdict, the transport company issued an order to admit African-Americans onto their buses. All carriages in the city were desegregated within five years of the lawsuit.
[edit] Kate Brown
In February 1868, Mrs. Kate Brown, an employee of the United States Senate, boarded a train to travel from Alexandria, Virginia to Washington, D.C. She entered “what they call the ‘white people’s car.’” As she was boarding, a railroad policeman told her to move to a different car. He told her the car she had entered “was for ladies,” and “no damned n----- was allowed to ride in that car; never was and never would be.” She replied, “This car will do.”
The railroad policeman and another employee grabbed Brown and, after a violent struggle that lasted six minutes, in which she was beaten and kicked, threw her on the boarding platform, dragged her along the platform and threatened to arrest her. She asked, “What are you going to arrest me for? What have I done? Have I committed robbery? Have I murdered anybody?”
Brown’s injuries were so severe that she was bedridden for several weeks and spit up blood. She sued the railway company for damages and prevailed before the Supreme Court of the United States.
[edit] Robert Fox
In January 1871, Robert Fox boarded a streetcar in Louisville, Kentucky, dropped his money into the fare box and sat down in the white section of the car. Ordered to move, he refused; the driver then threw him off the car. Shortly after, Fox filed a charge of assault and battery against the streetcar company in federal court, claiming that separate seating policies based on race were unlawful and the driver’s actions were therefore improper. A jury found the company rules to be invalid and awarded damages of $15 to Fox.
However, the company defied the jury’s finding and continued racially segregated seating. Louisville black leaders decided to launch a full-scale “ride-in.” At 7 P.M. on May 12, a young African-American boy boarded a streetcar, walked past the driver and took a seat among the white passengers. The driver, under new company regulations, did not attempt to throw him off, but simply stopped the car, lit a cigar and refused to proceed until the black youth moved to “his place.” While the governor, the Louisville chief of police and other prominent citizens looked on from the sidewalks, a large crowd that included an increasingly noisy mob of jeering white teen-agers gathered around the streetcar.
Before long, there were shouts of “Put him out!” “Hit him!” “Kick him!” “Hang him!” Several white youths climbed into the car and began yelling insults in the face of the young black rider. He refused to answer—or to move. The youths dragged him from his seat, pulled him off the car and began to beat him. Only when the youth started to defend himself did the city police intervene; they arrested him for disturbing the peace and took him to jail.
This time the trial was held in Louisville city court. The youth was fined and the judge delivered a warning to Louisville blacks that further ride-ins would be punished.
But the ride-in campaign was not halted that easily. In the following days, streetcar after streetcar was boarded by African-Americans who took seats in the white section. Now the drivers got off the cars entirely. On several occasions, black passengers drove the cars themselves, to the sound of cheers from black spectators. Then violence erupted. Bands of white youths and men began to throw black riders off the cars; windows were broken, cars were overturned and for a time a general race riot threatened.
By this time, newspapers across the country were carrying reports of the conflict, and many editorials denounced the seating regulations. In Louisville, federal marshals and the United States attorney backed the rights of the Black riders and stated that federal court action would be taken if necessary. There were even rumors that President Ulysses Grant might send troops.
Under these threats, the streetcar company capitulated. Soon, all the city transit companies declared that “it was useless to try to resist or evade the enforcement by the United States authorities of the claim of Blacks to ride in the cars.” To “avoid serious collisions,” the company would thereafter allow all passengers to sit where they chose. Although a few disturbances took place in the following months, mixed seating became a common practice.
[edit] Sallie Robinson
On the evening of May 22, 1879, Mrs. Sallie Robinson, a 28 year-old black woman, bought two first-class tickets at Grand Junction, Tennessee, for a train trip to Lynchburg, Virginia. Shortly after midnight she and her nephew, Joseph Robinson, described as a young black man “of light complexion, light hair and light blue eyes,” boarded the train and started into the parlor car. The conductor held Mrs. Robinson back (“bruising her arm and jerking her roughly around,” she alleged) and pushed her into the smoking car.
A few minutes later, when Joseph informed the conductor that he was Mrs. Robinson’s nephew and was an African-American, the conductor looked surprised. In that case, he said, they could go into the parlor car at the next stop. The Robinsons finished the ride in the parlor car but filed complaints with the railroad about their treatment and then sued for $500 under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1875. At trial, the conductor testified that he had thought Joseph to be a white man with a black woman and his experience was that such associations were “for illicit purposes.” The jury found for the railroad and the Robinsons appealed to the US Supreme Court, where they lost.
[edit] See also
- American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)
- Racism in the United States
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
[edit] References
- (To be inserted)
