Badass Women: Elizabeth Jennings Graham

Born in the late 1820s (her date of birth is unsure), Elizabeth Jennings Graham is yet another example of a woman who not only did something remarkable, but who also was a notable woman as well, but gets little to no acknowledgement today.

A full 100 years before Rosa Parks took her infamous bus ride, Jennings and her friend boarded a New York City streetcar on their way to church. At that time, African American riders were only permitted to ride if no white passengers complained, and so the conductor tried to make them get off the streetcar, first saying that the streetcar was full, and then saying that others passengers had complained. Jennings insisted on her right to ride on the streetcar, and even when her friend disembarked, she refused. She eventually was forcibly removed by a police officer, who injured her and ruined the clothing she was wearing. A massive protest against the railway company ensued, and the lawsuit she filed was ultimately decided in her favor. Its outcome would later lead to the desegregation of the New York City transit system.

Born to free parents, Jennings had her first and foremost feminist role model in the figure of her mother, who wrote the essay “On the Improvement of the Mind,” basically emphasizing the importance of the developing of one’s mind in the fight to abolish slavery. Jennings recited this essay at a meeting of the Ladies Literary Society, which had been founded by the influential black women of New York. Jennings later became a teacher and church organist, and founded the first kindergarten for black students in 1895. She died in 1901 and is buried in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Cemetery.

It is always mystifying to me how society and culture choose the heroes we are taught about in school. There is no doubt in my mind that figures such as Rosa Parks are significant, and key to understanding history, but what about Elizabeth Jennings Graham? Why doesn’t she get to have her rightful place and justified recognition in history? She certainly deserves it.

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