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Thomas L. Jennings. Elizabeth Jennings Graham (March 1827 – June 5, 1901) was an African-American teacher and civil rights figure. In 1854, Graham insisted on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies were private and most operated segregated cars. Her case was decided in her favor in 1855 ...
Aug 15, 2018 · In 1854, Elizabeth Jennings rode the streetcar of her choice, in an early civil rights protest that led to desegregating public transportation in NYC. Elizabeth Jennings Graham. The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR. On Sunday, July 16th, 1854, a young black schoolteacher named Elizabeth Jennings was running late.
Elizabeth Jennings Graham “deserves a place of honor in the history of civil rights in New York.”. Jennings’s victory served as a powerful catalyst in the fight for equality on New York’s public transit vehicles, but it didn’t end segregation once and for all. It would take nearly twenty years before all New York City streetcars were ...
The kindergarten operated from 1895 until her death on June 5, 1901. Elizabeth Jennings Graham was buried in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Cemetery, along with her son and her husband. Elizabeth Jennings Graham was a pioneer in desegregation and education for African Americans in 19th century America. Her legacy lives on and continues to inspire.
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- The Early Life and Higher Learning of Elizabeth Jennings Graham
- Jennings v. The Third Ave. Railroad
- From One Woman to Class Action: The Legacy of Elizabeth Jennings Graham
Elizabeth Jennings was born in New York City in March 1827. The daughter of a Thomas L. Jennings, who was born free, and Elizabeth Jennings, who wasn’t, the household she grew up in had high standards regarding education, culture, and political awareness. It’s no wonder she eventually became a schoolteacher. John H. Hewitt, one of the foremost auth...
It was Sunday, July 16, 1854, when Jennings and Adams caught the horse-drawn trolley car on the corner of Pearl and Chatham Streets. Unfortunately, that car didn’t have the words “Colored People Allowed in this Car” adorning its side. “I held up my hand to the driver and he stopped the car,” Jennings recalled. “We got on the platform, when the cond...
Hewitt wrote that “what may have started as one woman’s individual protest had really become class action.” Once Elizabeth Jennings Graham succeeded in her court battle, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that African-Americans could no longer be excluded as long as they were “sober, well behaved, and free from disease” (even when ruling in fav...
ELIZABETH JENNINGS GRAHAM Elizabeth Jennings Graham is most famously known as the “Nineteenth-Century Rosa Parks” for taking legal action against the Third Avenue Railroad Company for racial discrimination. She was born in 1827 in New York City to Elizabeth Cartwright and Thomas L. Jennings, a free Black man. She is sometimes referred to as ...
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On Sunday, July 16th, 1854, 27 years old Jennings was on her way to the First Colored Congregational Church, where she was an organist. At the time, public transportation was owned by private companies, which enforced segregated seating. Running late, Jennings boarded a white passenger-only streetcar at the corner of Pearl Street and Chatham ...
