(1830-1901) Elizabeth Jennings

She was a New York City school teacher whose 1854 defiance of a streetcar conductor’s order to leave his car helped desegregate public transit in New York City. With the help of her prominent father, the wealthy businessman Thomas L. Jennings, she filed and won a lawsuit against the streetcar company. Thomas L. Jennings, the first African-American to win a patent, owned a large clothing store and co-founded the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church. He used most of his profits in the fight against slavery and racism, founding a Legal Rights Association, which fought for civil rights through the courts. The association’s first case was his daughter’s. The judge in her case issued a ruling that prohibited discrimination in public transit against blacks.

Story of a black woman in 1800s