July 15 - Civil Rights Pioneer: The Woman Who Changed New York Segregation
The Enemy's Fear Exposed
This is the day Elizabeth Jennings Graham refused to leave a whites-only streetcar in New York City in 1854.
In today's lesson, we will explore how a police officer's mocking taunt—"Get redress if you can"—became the very catalyst that launched a successful legal battle for civil rights. When Elizabeth Jennings was forcibly removed from a New York streetcar and ridiculed by authorities, she discovered a profound spiritual truth: sometimes the enemy's mockery reveals exactly where God is preparing to work. What does it mean when the ridicule intensifies right where your faith demands the greatest courage?
"When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, 'What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall?'" - Nehemiah 4:1-2 (NIV)
This Date in History
Elizabeth Jennings clutched the window frame with fierce determination as the conductor yanked at her arm, demanding she wait for a car "with her people" in it. The 24-year-old schoolteacher had done nothing more than board a Third Avenue Railroad Company streetcar on this sweltering July morning, running late for her duties as organist at the First Colored Congregational Church. What followed would challenge the very foundation of segregated public transportation in America's largest city.
Born free in March 1827, Elizabeth had grown up in a household that valued education, culture, and political awareness. Her father, Thomas L. Jennings, was a prosperous tailor and freeman who had built a reputation as both a successful businessman and staunch abolitionist. Her mother, Elizabeth Cartwright, had been born enslaved but gained her freedom. The family understood the power of standing firm for principle.
On this particular Sunday, July 16, 1854, Elizabeth was hurrying to reach the church at Sixth Street and the Bowery where she served as organist. Running late, she spotted a Third Avenue Railroad Company streetcar at the corner of Pearl and Chatham Streets and raised her hand to signal the driver. "I held up my hand to the driver and he stopped the car," Jennings later recalled. What she didn't notice was the absence of a crucial sign: "Colored Persons Allowed."
The conductor immediately ordered her off, first claiming the car was full, then insisting that other passengers were displeased by her presence. When Elizabeth refused to budge, declaring "I have no people... I wished to go to church," the conductor took hold of her by force. She grabbed onto a window frame, then seized the conductor's coat as he tried to drag her away. When the driver fastened the horses and joined the struggle, they pulled her "to the bottom of the platform, so that my feet hung one way and my head the other, nearly on the ground."
"I screamed murder with all my voice," Elizabeth later wrote. Yet even after being manhandled, with her bonnet smashed and dress soiled, she climbed back onto the car. Only when a police officer arrived and helped forcibly remove her did the ordeal end, with the officer tauntingly telling her to "get redress if I could."
Elizabeth took those mocking words as a challenge. With support from New York's African American community and her influential father, she retained the white law firm of Culver, Parker & Arthur. The case was assigned to the firm's 24-year-old junior partner, Chester A. Arthur, who had been admitted to the bar just two months earlier.
The legal battle that followed drew national attention, with Frederick Douglass publicizing her story in his newspaper. On February 22, 1855, Brooklyn Circuit Court Judge William Rockwell ruled decisively in her favor, declaring that "Colored persons if sober, well-behaved and free from disease, had the same rights as others and could neither be excluded by any rules of the company, nor by force or violence." Elizabeth was awarded $225 in damages, less than the $500 she had requested, but the legal precedent was priceless.
The victory didn't immediately end segregation citywide. Elizabeth's father founded the Legal Rights Association to challenge other streetcar companies that retained segregated services. Through continued litigation, public campaigns, and civil disobedience, the organization systematically dismantled transportation segregation. By 1861, all New York public transit was desegregated, and in 1873, the New York State legislature passed the Civil Rights Act, explicitly outlawing discrimination on public transportation throughout the city.
Elizabeth continued teaching after her legal victory and married Charles Graham on June 18, 1860. They had a son, Thomas J. Graham, who tragically died at age one during the New York Draft Riots of July 1863. Following her husband's death, she founded New York City's first kindergarten for black children, operating it from her home until her death in 1901. Meanwhile, her young lawyer Chester Arthur would rise through politics to become the 21st President of the United States.
Historical Context
The New York City that Elizabeth Jennings navigated in 1854 existed in a complex legal and social landscape regarding race and public accommodation. While New York had abolished slavery in 1827, making it one of the first states to do so, this legal freedom did not translate into social equality. The city's rapidly expanding network of horse-drawn omnibuses and streetcars remained largely segregated, with most private transportation companies operating under an informal but widely understood system that restricted black passengers to specially designated vehicles marked "Colored Persons Allowed."
The Third Avenue Railroad Company, established just one year before Jennings's confrontation, represented the newer generation of streetcar services that were transforming urban transportation. These companies operated under city franchises but remained private enterprises, giving them considerable discretion in setting their own passenger policies. The legal ambiguity surrounding discrimination in public accommodations meant that while no specific law mandated segregation, no clear statute prohibited it either. This gray area enabled transportation companies to exclude black passengers through company policies rather than explicit legislation, making legal challenges particularly difficult but not impossible for those with the resources and determination to pursue them.
Did You Know?
Elizabeth Jennings's father, Thomas Jennings, was so influential in New York's black community that he had helped found the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church and maintained ties to the city's two major black churches.
At the time of the incident, New York City's streetcar system was still in its infancy, with horse-drawn cars competing against the older omnibus system. The Third Avenue line was one of only four streetcar companies franchised in the entire city, making Elizabeth's legal victory particularly significant in setting precedent for the entire emerging transportation network.
Elizabeth Jennings's grandfather, Jacob Cartwright, was described by Frederick Douglass's newspaper as "a native African, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and took active part in city politics until the time of his death." This made Elizabeth a third-generation New Yorker fighting for civil rights.
The Legal Rights Association founded by Elizabeth's father became a model for later civil rights organizations through its strategic combination of public opinion campaigns, lobbying, civil disobedience, and litigation—tactics that would be used repeatedly in the century that followed.
Frederick Douglass's newspaper, then called "Frederick Douglass' Paper," played a crucial role in bringing national attention to Elizabeth's case, helping transform what could have been a local incident into a catalyst for broader transportation desegregation efforts.
Today’s Reflection
The police officer's words dripped with sarcasm as he shoved Elizabeth Jennings from the streetcar: "Get redress if you can." His mocking tone suggested he believed she had no power, no recourse, no hope of justice. What he didn't realize was that his taunt had just exposed the exact place where God was preparing to move. The very words meant to mock and humiliate her became the spark that illuminated the path forward.
Mockery often reveals where the enemy feels most threatened.
"When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, 'What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall?'" Nehemiah 4:1-2 (NIV)
In this scripture from Nehemiah, Sanballat's ridicule wasn't random. He didn't mock the Jews because they were weak. He mocked them because he feared their strength. The wall represented more than bricks and mortar; it symbolized restoration, identity, and the return of God's favor.
His ridicule was a spiritual flare revealing precisely where divine momentum was building.
Elizabeth Jennings instinctively understood this. When the officer taunted her to "get redress," she didn't internalize his mockery as truth. Instead, she recognized it as a challenge. She took it as an invitation to act. Within days, she had retained a law firm and launched the legal battle that would lead to the desegregation of New York's public transportation system.
Her response wasn't rooted in bitterness, but in clarity—she saw that mockery can sometimes point to the very place where truth must be defended.
This pattern runs deep in Scripture. Goliath mocked David's youth and size, not realizing he was taunting the very vessel through which God would demonstrate His power. The Pharisees mocked Jesus as He hung on the cross, sneering at what looked like defeat, unaware that the moment of their greatest scorn was the moment of their greatest undoing. Mockery, in every case, did not signify failure.
It revealed proximity to divine disruption.
Of course, not every critic is an enemy of God's work. Sometimes mockery comes from misunderstanding, or from people wrestling with fear or conviction. But when ridicule zeroes in on your obedience—your refusal to lie, your quiet act of faith, your uncompromised moral stand—that's when it's worth paying attention. The enemy rarely wastes energy mocking something that isn't a threat.
Modern believers experience the same dynamic. When colleagues mock your refusal to participate in office gossip, when classmates ridicule your stance on biblical morality, when neighbors dismiss your commitment to serving others as naive idealism, it may not be a sign that you're wrong. It may be a sign that you're close to something holy.
The enemy mocks what he fears. His sarcasm is often aimed directly at the place where God is calling you to stand firm.
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
The enemy's mockery is strategic. It's designed to make you question whether you heard God correctly, whether your convictions are worth the cost, whether standing firm will only lead to more ridicule.
This kind of discernment takes maturity. Not every criticism is an attack from the enemy. Sometimes we're corrected because we need to be. But when mockery targets the place where you've stepped out in faith—when it attacks your convictions while offering no real wisdom—it's worth asking whether it's actually revealing a place of spiritual threat to the kingdom of darkness.
Elizabeth Jennings could have believed the officer. She could have accepted that justice was out of reach, that power belonged only to the strong, that resistance would only lead to more shame. But she didn't. She recognized his words for what they were: not prophecy, but fear. And she responded not with revenge, but with resolve.
The officer's mockery became her roadmap to victory.
This doesn't mean every act of obedience ends in public triumph. Not all battles are won in the courts. Some are won through perseverance. Some are won through quiet faith that endures, even when the world walks away. Jennings' victory was hard-fought and costly, a reminder that faithfulness is not always glamorous, but it is always powerful. When the enemy mocks your obedience to God's call, when he ridicules your righteousness, your integrity, your hope, it may be because he sees what you haven't yet seen: that God is about to move.
"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me," declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 (NIV)
So the next time someone mocks your faith, listen closely. When they ridicule your commitment to holiness, or your trust in God's justice, ask what they might be revealing about their own fear. Ask what the enemy is trying to stop before it starts.
Because sometimes the question isn't whether you can get redress. It's whether you can recognize the mockery for what it is—not a defeat, but a signal that you're standing exactly where God is working.
Practical Application
When faced with mockery for your faith, pause and ask yourself: "What specific conviction or action is being targeted?" Often, the most intense ridicule centers on the very area where God is calling you to make the greatest impact. Create a simple habit of responding to mockery with curiosity rather than defensiveness—not to validate the criticism, but to discern whether it's revealing a spiritual battleground. Consider keeping a brief journal of moments when your faith is mocked, noting patterns that might indicate where God is preparing to move through your obedience. Like Elizabeth Jennings, let the enemy's taunts become your roadmap to victory by identifying exactly where divine momentum is building in your life.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the courage You gave Elizabeth Jennings to stand firm when faced with mockery and injustice. We confess that too often we allow the ridicule of others to silence our convictions and diminish our faith. Help us to recognize that when we are mocked for our obedience to You, it may be a sign that we are standing in the very place where You are working. Give us wisdom to discern between legitimate correction and the enemy's attempts to discourage us from pursuing Your will. Transform our response to mockery from defensiveness to discernment, from retreat to resolve. May we have the courage to get redress when You call us to seek justice, and the faith to trust that Your power is made perfect in our weakness. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Final Thoughts
When the enemy mocks your faith, he's often revealing his fear of what God might accomplish through your obedience. The ridicule aimed at your convictions, your stand for truth, or your refusal to compromise may not be evidence of your weakness—it may be evidence of your proximity to divine breakthrough. Elizabeth Jennings understood that mockery can become a roadmap to victory when we respond with discernment rather than defensiveness. The question isn't whether the world will mock your faith; it's whether you'll have the wisdom to recognize that mockery as confirmation that you're standing exactly where God is working.
Also On This Date In History
July 16 - Love and Plague: England Bans Kissing During the Black Death
This is the day kissing was banned in England to stop the spread of the Black Death in 1439 AD.
Author’s Notes
People often ask where I find the historical events I write about. The truth is, sometimes you bring them to me. Today’s story came from loyal reader
who mentioned it in the comments of an article about a month ago. I wasn’t very familiar with it at the time, but once I started digging in, I knew I had to tell it.It’s worth taking a moment to recognize just how significant this story is. Elizabeth Jennings Graham’s stand on a New York streetcar happened a full century before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery. And unlike Rosa’s protest—which was part of a larger, coordinated civil rights strategy—Elizabeth acted alone. No movement behind her. No legal team waiting. She was simply a young schoolteacher trying to get to church. But when injustice tried to shove her aside, she refused to go quietly. That’s what makes her story so powerful. It wasn’t planned. It was principled.
I wanted to write about her because her story is largely forgotten—and it shouldn’t be. We remember Rosa, as we should. But we also need to remember Elizabeth.
So thank you, Andrew, for the nudge.
If you know of a story you think deserves to be told, feel free to send me a direct message on Substack or simply reply to this email. I’m often surprised by how many of you know incredible local or regional stories that never made the national spotlight or have been largely forgotten. Keep them coming. And don’t worry—I’ll do the research.
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I was amazed to read this, because her name seemed to vanish from history (on a national level), even though this happened in the US' largest city! I had never heard of this case, only the more well-known case of Rosa Parks a century later.
Maybe the Parks case was over-reported, since it happened in the South, and by then, people had been inculcated with the idea that this type of racist action only happened in the South, and that the North was exempt from it.
Jason, this story from history, which I remember from last year,- is just as powerful this time. We should know the names of all these civil rights heroes, just like we know Rosa Parks. And your connection to scripture touched me today. The quiet resolve amd determination she displayed when what she knew to be true was challenged is a model for us all. As He promises, when we are weak, we are strong, if we look to God to provide the strength. Thank you.