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, and it led to the eventual desegregation of all New York City transit systems by 1865.
Graham later started the city's first kindergarten for African-American children, operating it from her home on 247 West 41st Street until her death in 1901.
Early life
Jennings was born free in March 1827 (the exact date is unknown). Her parents, Thomas L. Jennings (1791-1856) and his wife, born Elizabeth Cartwright (1798–1873), had three children: Matilda Jennings Thompson (1824–1886), Elizabeth, and James E. Jennings (1832 – May 5, 1860). Her father was a Freeman and her mother was born enslaved. He became a successful tailor and an influential member of New York's black community. He has been identified as the earliest known example of a Black person to hold a patent in the United States in their own name; in 1821, he was awarded a patent from the U.S. government for developing dry scouring, a new method to dry clean clothing. With the proceeds he received from his patented dry-cleaning process, Thomas Jennings bought his family's freedom. His wife would have otherwise been the legal property of her owner until 1827, under New York state's gradual abolition law of 1799.
Jennings Graham's mother, Elizabeth Cartwright Jennings, was a prominent woman in her local community. She is known for penning the speech 10-year-old Elizabeth Jennings delivered, "On the Improvement of the Mind," at a meeting of the Ladies Literary Society of New York (founded 1834). The literary society was founded by New York's elite black women to promote self-improvement through community activities, reading, and discussion. Produced and given in 1837, the speech discusses how the neglect of cultivating the mind would keep blacks inferior to whites and would have whites and enemies believe that blacks do not have any minds at all. Jennings believed the mind was very powerful and its improvement could help with the abolition of slavery and discrimination. Therefore, she called upon black women to develop their minds and take action. The importance of improving the mind was a consistent theme that developed in members of New York's Black Elite in the post-Revolutionary period.
By 1854, Jennings had become a schoolteacher and church organist. She taught at the city's private African Free School, which had several locations by this time, and later in the public schools including Colored School No. 5 at 19 Thomas Street.
Jennings v. Third Ave. Railroad
By 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 transportation did not go into service in New York City until 1869.) Like the nearly obsolete omnibus lines, the streetcars were owned by private companies, which regularly barred access to their service on the basis of race. The owners and drivers could easily refuse service to passengers of African descent or demand racially segregated seating.
On Sunday, July 16, 1854, Jennings went to the First Colored Congregational Church, where she was an organist. As she was running late, she boarded a streetcar of the Third Avenue Railroad Company at the corner of Pearl Street and Chatham Street. 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 Greeley's 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's father, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, and Rev. Henry Highland Garnet. Her story was publicized by Frederick Douglass in his newspaper, and it received national attention. Jennings's father filed a lawsuit on behalf of his daughter against the driver, the conductor, and the Third Avenue Railroad Company in Brooklyn, where the Third Avenue company was headquartered. This was one of four streetcar companies franchised in the city and had been in operation for about one year. She was represented by the law firm of Culver, Parker, and Arthur. Her case was handled by the firm's 24-year-old junior partner Chester A. Arthur, future president of the United States.