1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,599 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: events in history, one from me and one from former 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 1: host Tracy V. Wilson on with the show. Welcome to 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: this day in History Class. It's July six. Idabe Wells 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,240 Speaker 1: Barnett was born on this day in eighteen sixty two, 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: and let me tell you, Ida b Wells Barnett never 7 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: gave up. She was enslaved from birth, born to enslaved parents, 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: and marriages between enslaved people weren't legally recognized. But after 9 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War, her parents got their 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: marriage formalized. They made sure that Ida and her siblings 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: got an education that was incredibly important to both of them. 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: Her mother actually enrolled in school as well, so that 13 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: she could educate herself, give herself the education she had 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: not been allowed while enslaved. But then, when she was sixteen, 15 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: both of Idabe Wells parents died in a yellow fever epidemic. 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: She was away visiting her grandparents at the time, everybody 17 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,559 Speaker 1: tried to stop her from going back home. There weren't 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: even any passenger trains running because the epidemic was so bad. 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: She took a freight train back to her hometown of 20 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: Holly Springs, Mississippi, to look after her surviving siblings. Her 21 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: baby brother had actually also died by the time she 22 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: got there, and when she heard her father's brothers from 23 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: the Masonic Lodge talking about how they were going to 24 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: split up the children and take them in groups of 25 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: ones and two's I to be well, said no, they 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: were not. She refused to let them do that. She 27 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: said that if her father's brothers from the Masonic Lodge 28 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: helped her find a job, she would take care of 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: all of her siblings. She was sixteen years old, she 30 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: got a job as a teacher. She didn't give up 31 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: pursuing her own education, though she kept up with that 32 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: while she was studying. After a while, she moved to 33 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: Memphis with her two youngest sisters. That was one and 34 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: she kept working as a teacher. She had to commute 35 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: back and forth by train for this job, and after 36 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: doing this for about two years without incident, she was 37 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: on her way back from a trip to Holly Springs 38 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: one day when a conductor told her she would have 39 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: to leave the ladies car. She refused she had paid 40 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: for a first class ticket on the Ladies car. The 41 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: conductor insisted, and she refused again, so he took her 42 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: baggage to the forward car, expecting that she would follow 43 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: her stuff if he moved it, but she did not. 44 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 1: She again refused to move, so he tried to remove 45 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: her bodily from her seat. She dug in and then 46 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: bit him. Ultimately, she was removed from the train by force, 47 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: and she wound up filing not one, but two lawsuits 48 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: about it. The first one wasn't even settled when she 49 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: was taken off the train again. This is one of 50 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: the things that led her to become more politically active. 51 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: She started a career in journalism under the pen name 52 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: of Iola, and then three men that she knew were 53 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: lynched in Memphis. They had been trying to defend their 54 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: grocery store against a white mob. She started focusing a 55 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: lot of her writing and a lot of her investigative 56 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: journalism on lynching. She was calling attention to how many 57 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: black men were being murdered for alleged crimes totally outside 58 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: of the law. A lynch Bob actually formed to come 59 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: after her and the co owner of the newspaper that 60 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: she was running. She was actually out of town at 61 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: the time. She did not even go back to Memphis 62 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: to try to get her belongings after this happened, but 63 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: once again she did not back down. Investigating lynching became 64 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: the work that she would pursue for the rest of 65 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: her life. She mounted a huge anti lynching crusade that 66 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: involved multiple trips across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom. 67 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: Even though Southern legislators blocked several attempts to pass federal 68 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: anti lynching legislation, she never abandoned this work and she 69 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: kept it going after she married Ferdinand Lee Barnett on June. 70 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: Although her work did slow down a little bit as 71 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: she had and raised children, it didn't stop. People had 72 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: criticized her for not being married before she got married. 73 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: She was thirty two at the time of her marriage, 74 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: and now they criticized her for getting married. Based was 75 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: saying that she had important work to do and she 76 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: didn't need to be wasting time on a marriage and children. 77 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: But number one, she wanted to get married and have children. 78 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: Number Two, she and her husband had found in each 79 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: other someone who could help them with the work that 80 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: they were doing and actually make it more possible for 81 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,559 Speaker 1: them to be able to do it. Late in Wells 82 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: Barnette's life. She went to a Negro History Week event 83 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: where the speaker had written a book on the subject. 84 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: The field of Negro history was just forming and would 85 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: of course later become Black history. This book did not 86 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: mention her or her anti lynching campaign at all, so 87 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: she once again refused to give up and got to 88 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: work writing her own autobiography so that there would be 89 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: a record of what she had done. Her daughter edited 90 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: this book and had it published after her death. It 91 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,239 Speaker 1: came out in nineteen seventy. Idobe Wells died on March twenty, 92 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, at the age of sixty nine. And 93 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: you can learn more about Idob Wells Barnett on the 94 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: Stuff He Missed in History Class episode from June four. 95 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe up to the Stay in History 96 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: Class on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and whatever else you 97 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow for a famous mass execution. 98 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: Greetings everyone, welcome to this day in History Class, where 99 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: we bring you a new tidbit from history every day. 100 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: The day was July six, eighteen fifty four. On her 101 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: way to church, Elizabeth Jennings attempted to board a street 102 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: car that did not allow black passengers on it, which 103 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: was permitted sometimes. When no passengers objected, so the conductor 104 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: said he would not allow her to board, she insisted 105 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: that she board. The standoff between Elizabeth and the conductor 106 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: ended with the conductor and the driver forcefully removing her 107 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: from the street car. This incident and the child that 108 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: followed became news across the United States, and the railroad 109 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: company that operated the street cars began integrating them. Elizabeth 110 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: Jennings was from a middle class family in New York. 111 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: Her parents were engaged in their communities. Her father, Thomas Jennings, 112 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: was the first black man to receive a patent. He 113 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: helped found philanthropic organizations like the Wilberforce Society and the 114 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: New York African Society for Mutual Relief. He helped establish 115 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: the first black owned and operated newspaper in the US. 116 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's mother, also named Elizabeth, was active in the Female 117 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: Literary Society of New York. Young Elizabeth and her siblings 118 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: were well educated, despite the limited access black children had 119 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: to schooling in New York at the time. Elizabeth grew 120 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: up in a segregated New York at a time when 121 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: slavery was still legal in the United States, but her 122 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: parents activism influenced her early on. She was a teacher 123 00:06:56,279 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: and a church organist. On July sif before, Jennings was 124 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: running late on her way to the first Colored American 125 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: and Congregational church, where she was the organist. The street 126 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: cars were segregated and the cars for black people came 127 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: less frequently than the ones for white people, so Elizabeth 128 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: tried to board the whites only Third Avenue street car, 129 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: but the conductor refused to let her board. Elizabeth told 130 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: the conductor she was trying to get to church on time. 131 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: When the conductor stuck to his refusal, she said she 132 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: would wait on that car until the next one that 133 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: took black passengers came. The next car was full, so 134 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth stayed, but the driver was tired of waiting, so 135 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was allowed to board. Elizabeth commented that she was 136 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: quote a respectable person born and erased in New York, 137 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: and told the conductor that he was quote a good 138 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: for nothing, impudent fellow for insulting decent persons while on 139 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: their way to church. This set the conductor over the edge. 140 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 1: He pulled Elizabeth's friend Sarah off the street car and 141 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: physically forced Elizabeth out. She tried to hold onto a 142 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: window sash as the conductor and driver dragged her from 143 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: the car to the platform. Determined to ride, Elizabeth got 144 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: back onto the car. The conductor told the driver to 145 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: drive until they got to an officer or police station. 146 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: They found an officer who listened to the conductor's account 147 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: of what happened, but not Elizabeth. Elizabeth ended up walking home. 148 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: She wrote down what happened, and her father took what 149 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: she wrote to leaders in the community, including Frederick Douglas. 150 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: People helped raise money so Elizabeth could get an attorney. 151 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,719 Speaker 1: Just three days after Elizabeth was removed from the street car, 152 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,959 Speaker 1: the New York Daily Tribune ran a story on the incident. 153 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 1: Chester A. Arthur, who had only been practicing law for 154 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: a little over a month, was hired to be Elizabeth's attorney. 155 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,439 Speaker 1: He fouled a suit on behalf of Elizabeth Jennings in 156 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: the State Supreme Court seeking damages from the conductor, driver, 157 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: and Third Avenue Railway Company. In February of eighteen fifty five. 158 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: She was awarded two and twenty five dollars in damages 159 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: plus ten percent for court costs. The judge said that 160 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: the company was quote bound to carry all respectable persons, 161 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: that colored persons, if sober, well behaved, and free from disease, 162 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: had the same rights as others. Companies in New York 163 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: began desegregating their street cars, largely because of the potential 164 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: for lawsuits if they didn't. Racial discrimination on public transportation 165 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,559 Speaker 1: wasn't outlawed in New York City until the Civil Rights 166 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: Act of eighteen seventy three went into effect. Tester Arthur, 167 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's lawyer, became the President of the United States in 168 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one after James Garfield was assassinated. Elizabeth Jennings Graham, 169 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: as she was called after she married in eighteen sixty, 170 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: later opened the first free kindergarten for black children in 171 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: New York. She died in nineteen o one. I'm Eve 172 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: Jeff Coote, and hopefully you know a little more about 173 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: history today than you did yes your day. And if 174 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: you'd like to learn more about Elizabeth Jennings, you can 175 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: listen to an episode of stuff you missed in history 176 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: class called Elizabeth Jennings Graham. The link is in the description. 177 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 178 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: t d I h C podcast. Thanks again for listening, 179 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from I 180 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,959 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 181 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:34,559 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.