Elizabeth jennings graham biography
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Black History Month Spotlight: Elizabeth Jennings Graham
Elizabeth Jennings Graham (March – June 5, ) was an African-American teacher and civil rights activist, who challenged segregation on public transportation, a full years before Rosa Parks did so. In , she won a lawsuit against New York’s Third Avenue Railway Company for ejecting her from a streetcar because she was African American. The case led to the eventual desegregation of all New York City transit systems by She is known as &#;The Rosa Parks of the 19th Century&#;.
Elizabeth Jennings Graham was born free in New York City to Thomas and Elizabeth Jennings in either or (both years are specific to her Death Certificate and Census, respectively). The specific day and month of her birth are unknown. Her parents were both prominent members of New York City’s small African-American middle class and her father was the first African American to hold a patent in the United States. Additionally, he was involved in many social
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Elizabeth Jennings Graham, activist and educator, was born free in New York City to Thomas and Elizabeth Jennings in either (according to her Death Certificate) or (according to an census). The specific day and month of her birth are unknown. Her parents were both prominent members of New York City’s small Black mittpunkt class, and her father was the first African American to hold a patent in the United States. He was also involved in many social and religious organizations and was one of the founders of New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Like her father, Elizabeth Jennings Graham was involved in many social and religious organizations, most prominently as a church en person som spelar orgel. She was on her way to church to play the organ on July 16, , when she tried to board a streetcar of the Third Avenue Railway Company, which at the time did not allow African Americans as passengers. At first, she was permitted to ride the streetcar as long as none of the other passengers complained, but she wa
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July 16, Elizabeth Jennings Graham
Elizabeth Jennings Graham, ca.
On July 16, , schoolteacher Elizabeth Jennings Graham successfully challenged racist streetcar policies in New York City. Her case went to court and was publicized by Frederick Douglass.
Here is a description excerpted from 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism.
On July 16, , Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jennings, a year-old schoolteacher setting out to fulfill her duties as organist at the First Colored Congregational Church on Sixth Street and Second Avenue, fatefully waited for the bus on the corner of Pearl and Chatham. Getting around New York City often involved paying a fare to board a large horse-drawn carriage, the forerunner to today’s behemoth motorized buses. For Black New Yorkers like Jennings, it wasn’t that simple.
Pre-Civil War Manhattan may have been home to the nation’s largest African-American population and New York’s Black residents may have paid taxes