100 years before Rosa Parks refused to get off a bus, Elizabeth Jennings Graham refused to get off a New York City streetcar in 1854. At this time, Blacks were allowed to ride on streetcars as long as white passengers did not object to it. On July 16, 1854, Elizabeth and her friend Sarah Adams boarded a streetcar and were promptly told to get off by the conductor. Elizabeth refused to get off. The conductor physically grabbed her trying to throw her off the streetcar. After being physically attacked by the conductor, a police officer joined in and the two grown men threw the woman off the bus injured with her clothing in shreds. It took two grown men to throw this woman off the streetcar. Talk about physical and mental strength.
Elizabeth may have been thrown off the streetcar but she was not done fighting. First, Elizabeth wrote to Frederick Douglass and he published her letter in the New York Tribune. Then, she and her fellow church members then held a rally to protest the violence she incurred from the conductor and the police. Finally, she filed a lawsuit against the streetcar company and WON! She was awarded $225 in damages, which is equivalent to $6,428.57 today! Unfortunately, segregation legally lived on for another 110 years in America but Elizabeth Jennings was one of the many protests to demand equal rights for all people.

To learn about Elizabeth Jennings Graham and other brave activists click here: African or American?