Lizzie Demands a Seat!: Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar Rights

by Beth Anderson, E. B. Lewis (Illustrator)

Overview

In 1854, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jennings, an African American schoolteacher, fought back when she was unjustly denied entry to a New York City streetcar, sparking the beginnings of the long struggle to gain equal rights on public transportation.

One hundred years before Rosa Parks took her stand, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jennings tried to board a streetcar in New York City on her way to church. Though there were plenty of empty seats, she was denied entry, assaulted, and threatened all because of her race--even though New York was a free state at that time. Lizzie decided to fight back. She told her story, took her case to court--where future president Chester Arthur represented her--and won! Her victory was the first recorded in the fight for equal rights on public transportation, and Lizzie's case set a precedent. Author Beth Anderson and acclaimed illustrator E. B. Lewis bring this inspiring, little-known story to life in this captivating book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635923490
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	570L (what's this?)
File size:	107 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Beth Anderson, a former teacher, combines her love of writing with the joys of discovery and learning in her narrative nonfiction and historical fiction picture books. Visit bethandersonwriter.com.

E.B. Lewis is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist who has illustrated over seventy books for children. He teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Visit eblewis.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/06/2020

On July 16, 1854, “Lizzie Jenkins was in a hurry. A big hurry. The kind of hurry she couldn’t hold back.” When a New York streetcar conductor tries to stop her from entering a car reserved for whites, she protests. “Despite being born a ‘free black’ in a ‘free state,’ she’d never been treated as equal... Suddenly, late-for-church wasn’t as important as late-for-equality.” When Jenkins is thrown off the streetcar, shown in a dramatic spread, a white witness steps forward, and Jenkins decides to take her case to court—a risk: “if she failed to win, she could make it worse.” But Jenkins, supported by her community, does win, notching the first victory in what would become a 100-year-long battle to end segregation on public transportation. Shimmering jewel-toned watercolors blur and delineate details in Lewis’s paintings. Includes an author’s note, bibliography, and reading suggestions. Ages 7–10. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

FOUR STARRED REVIEWS! ★★★★
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
ILA Children's Book Award Nonfiction Honor
Winner of Bank Street College of Education's Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for excellence in nonfiction
Chicago Public Library Best Informational Book for Older Readers
Shortlist for inaugural Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice 
Finalist, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award

★ "Anderson's third-person text allows readers under Lizzie's skin... Lewis' dappled watercolors depict the action and extend it.  A two-page author's note fleshes out the history, including mentions of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks. Necessary." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Anderson's vivid, well-researched narrative includes dialogue that 'closely follows' accounts of Jennings’ experience that appeared in newspapers at the time. Using brighter hues than his usual palette, Lewis creates a series of vibrant, expressive watercolor paintings that transports viewers back in time, while portraying characters as distinct individuals. A memorable picture book introducing a nineteenth-century defender of civil rights." — Booklist, starred review

★ "... (T)he first victory in what would become a 100-year-long battle to end segregation on public transportation. Shimmering jewel-toned watercolors blur and delineate details in Lewis’s paintings." — Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
★ "In 1854, when Lizzie Jennings was forced off a traditionally 'whites only' streetcar, she went to court, winning the right for all black passengers to ride in the same car with white people on the Third Avenue Railroad in New York City. Set on spreads with full-bleed illustrations, the storytelling is straightforward and direct. Dialogue closely follows contemporary newspaper accounts to enliven the historical moment. The well-chosen language... is a pleasure to read aloud. Lewis employs pastel colors, shades of blues, pinks, and purples, and plenty of background yellow... lighten(ing) the story and support(ing) its positive outcome. An important story beautifully told." — School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2020

Gr 1–3—In 1854, when Lizzie Jennings was forced off a traditionally "whites only" streetcar, she went to court, winning the right for all black passengers to ride in the same car with white people on the Third Avenue Railroad in New York City. Anderson's account of Jennings's early civil rights triumph stresses the teacher and choir director's determination. An afterword explains how this free, educated, and wealthy black woman was uniquely positioned to succeed where an earlier court case had failed, and how the fight continued for 10 more years before all New York street car companies stopped having separate cars for black and white passengers. Set on spreads with full-bleed illustrations, the storytelling is straightforward and direct. Dialogue closely follows contemporary newspaper accounts to enliven the historical moment. The well-chosen language—"She'd been rejected, restricted, and refused by schools, restaurants, and theaters"—is a pleasure to read aloud. Departing from the somber palette he used for Jabari Asim's Preaching to the Chickens, Lewis employs pastel colors, shades of blues, pinks, and purples, and plenty of background yellow to portray the characters and their surroundings. This lightens the story and supports its positive outcome. Shadowy background figures remind careful readers of the larger community that supported Jennings and were affected. Pair with Nikki Giovanni's Rosa Parks for a reminder of how long this struggle continued. VERDICT An important story beautifully told.—Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

School Library Journal

★ 2019-11-10
Just over 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Elizabeth Jennings refused to dismount from a New York City streetcar.

In 1854, New York was a so-called free state, and Lizzie Jennings was a freeborn, well-to-do African American woman. Accustomed to being permitted in the better-appointed streetcars reserved for white passengers, Lizzie is first taken aback and then angered when the white conductor tells her she must wait for one emblazoned "Colored People Allowed in This Car." Her refusal to leave leads to a contretemps with the law—and a white witness, whose expression of support bolsters her enough to file an eventual, successful, groundbreaking lawsuit. Anderson's third-person text allows readers under Lizzie's skin as her indignation at injustice mounts. Children will readily recognize both the conductor's capricious cruelty and Lizzie's anger that "being born a ‘free black' in a ‘free state' " does not mean being "treated as equal." Lewis' dappled watercolors depict the action and extend it. A picture of an angry Lizzie thrown to the cobbles, bonnet askew, is shocking; another, of the faces of five white, male jurors floating forbiddingly against a vivid, dark-blue background, underscores the injustice of the legal system. A two-page author's note fleshes out the history, including mentions of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks.

Necessary. (bibliography, further reading) (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews