America’s First Freedom Rider

America’s First Freedom Rider. Elizabeth Jennings Fights NYC’s Segregated Streetcars. , In 1854, traveling was fraught with danger. Accidents were common, as were pickpockets, gangs, drunks, and kidnappers, with rival police forces watching and arguing over who should help. For African Americans, things were even more perilous., On Sunday morning, July 16, 1854, with temperatures nearing 100 degrees, 27-year-old teacher Elizabeth Jennings and a friend climbed onto the horsecar on Chatham Street (formerly part of Bowery), en route to the 2nd Avenue Church where Jennings was organist and choir leader., But her destination and that of the country took a sudden turn when the conductor told her to wait for the next car because it had “her people” in it. Refusing to leave, she was knocked to the ground by the conductor and later pushed down the stairs by a policeman. Undeterred, she filed a lawsuit, and Elizabeth Jennings vs. Third Avenue Railroad ruled the headlines for weeks. Her plucky young attorney was future U.S. president Chester A. Arthur., Triumphantly, om February 22, 1855, Jennings was granted $225 plus legal fees, and – a century before Rosa Parks – won African Americans the right to equal transportation. As one newspaper noted, “the absurd and foolish prejudice against colored people was rebuked, and their rights defended.”, - Jerry Mikorenda, author of America’s First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Equal Rights