BIRTHDAY WISHES : To the 21st President of the US, CHESTER A. ARTHUR, for defending black people in court over discrimination and seeking monetary reward for them during slavery. BEFORE THERE WAS ROSA PARKS. THERE WAS ELIZABETH JENNINGS Elizabeth Jennings Graham (1827–June 5, 1901), was an African-American teacher and church organist; as a young woman, she became noted as a 19th-century civil rights figure after insisting on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar in 1854, at a time when all such companies were private and most operated segregated cars. Her case was decided in her favor in 1855, and it led to the eventual desegregation of all New York City transit systems by 1865. After the New York Draft Riots of July 1863, where there were numerous attacks against the black community, Graham and her husband left the city, moving to join her mother and sister in Eatontown, New Jersey. After his death, she returned with her family to New York. Graham started the citys first kindergarten for black children, operating it from her home. Elizabeth Jennings was born free in 1827, one of three children of Thomas L. Jennings and his wife. He was a free black and she was born into slavery. He became a successful tailor, the first known African-American holder of a patent in the United States (his was granted by New York State in 1821), and an influential member of New Yorks black community. With fees from his patented dry-cleaning process, Thomas Jennings bought his wifes freedom, as she was considered an indentured servant until 1827 under the states gradual abolition law of 1799. [1][2] Elizabeth was born free and received an education. By 1854, Elizabeth Jennings had become a schoolteacher and church organist. She taught at the citys private African Free School,which had several locations by this time, and later in the public schools. In the 1850s, the horse-drawn streetcar on rails became a more common mode of transportation, competing with the horse-drawn omnibus in the city. (Elevated heavy rail,the next transportation mode in the city, did not go into service until 1869.) Like the omnibus lines, the streetcar lines were owned by private companies, and their owners and drivers could refuse service to any passengers. They enforced segregated seating. On Sunday, July 16, 1854, Jennings set off for the First Colored Congregational Church, where she was organist. As she was running late, she boarded a streetcar of the Third Avenue Railroad Company at the corner of Pearl and Chatham Streets. The conductor ordered her to get off. When she refused, the conductor tried to remove her by force. Eventually, with the aid of a police officer, Jennings was ejected from the streetcar. Horace Greeleys New York Tribune commented on the incident in February 1855: The incident sparked an organized movement among black New Yorkers to end racial discrimination on streetcars, led by notables such as Jennings father Thomas, Rev. James W.C. Pennington,and Rev. Henry Highland Garnet. Her story was publicized by Frederick Douglass in his newspaper, and received national attention. Jennings filed a lawsuit against the driver, the conductor, and the Third Avenue Railroad Company in Brooklyn, where Third Avenue was headquartered. This was one of four streetcar companies franchised in the city and had been in operation about one year. She was represented by the law firm of Culver, Parker, and Arthur. Her case was handled by the firms 24-year-old junior partner, Chester A. Arthur,future President of the United States. In 1855, the court ruled in her favor. In his charge to the jury, Brooklyn Circuit Court Judge William Rockwell declared: The jury awarded Jennings damages in the amount of $225 (comparable to $5,000 to $10,000 in 2008 dollars), as well as $22.50 in costs. The next day, the Third Avenue Railroad Company ordered its cars desegregated. The Jennings case was instrumental in establishing policy for what was a new service industry. A month after the verdict, Rev. Pennington was refused admission to a car of the Eighth Avenue Railroad, another of the first four companies. He won a similar judgment against that company when the case was appealed to the State Supreme Court. He was represented by the Legal Rights Association,founded by Thomas Jennings,Elizabeths father. [3] After steps forward and back, a decade later in 1865, New Yorks public transit services were fully desegregated. The last case was a challenge by a black woman who was the widow of a United States Colored Troops soldier, a fact that won public support for her. [4] Little is known about Jennings later years. She married Charles Graham and had a son, Thomas J. Graham. He was a sickly child who died of convulsions at the age of one during the New York Draft Riots of July 1863. With the assistance of a white undertaker, the Grahams slipped through mob-infested streets and buried their child in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. The funeral service was read by Rev. Morgan Dix of the Trinity Church on Wall Street. Like many other blacks after the riots, the Grahams moved out of Manhattan. They moved to Eatontown, New Jersey, where her mother and sister lived. [5] After her husband Charles died, Elizabeth, along with her mother and sister, moved back to New York City in the late 1860s or 1870. [6] Elizabeth Jennings Graham lived her later years at 247 West 41st Street. She founded and operated the citys first kindergarten for black children in her home. She died in 1901 and was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:01:08 +0000