Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York

by Amy Hill Hearth

Overview

Starred reviews hail Streetcar to Justice as "a book that belongs in any civil rights library collection" (Publishers Weekly) and "completely fascinating and unique” (Kirkus). An ALA Notable Book and winner of a Septima Clark Book Award from the National Council for the Social Studies. 

Bestselling author and journalist Amy Hill Hearth uncovers the story of a little-known figure in U.S. history in this fascinating biography.

In 1854, a young African American woman named Elizabeth Jennings won a major victory against a New York City streetcar company, a first step in the process of desegregating public transportation in Manhattan.

This illuminating and important piece of the history of the fight for equal rights, illustrated with photographs and archival material from the period, will engage fans of Phillip Hoose’s Claudette Colvin and Steve Sheinkin’s Most Dangerous.

One hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Elizabeth Jennings’s refusal to leave a segregated streetcar in the Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan set into motion a major court case in New York City.

On her way to church one day in July 1854, Elizabeth Jennings was refused a seat on a streetcar. When she took her seat anyway, she was bodily removed by the conductor and a nearby police officer and returned home bruised and injured. With the support of her family, the African American abolitionist community of New York, and Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Jennings took her case to court. Represented by a young lawyer named Chester A. Arthur (a future president of the United States) she was victorious, marking a major victory in the fight to desegregate New York City’s public transportation.

Amy Hill Hearth, bestselling author of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, illuminates a lesser-known benchmark in the struggle for equality in the United States, while painting a vivid picture of the diverse Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan in the mid-1800s.

Includes sidebars, extensive illustrative material, notes, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062673602
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/02/2018
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	260,732
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

Table of Contents

Three Notes about Language 1

Part I A Day like No Other 3

1 "Those Monsters in Human Form" 5

The First New Yorkers 12

2 Stray Dogs and Pickpockets 15

Slavery in the North 22

Timeline: The End of Slavery in Northern States 24

3 A City Divided by Race 27

What Was Jim Crow? 31

4 "I Screamed Murder with All My Voice" 35

5 "You Will Sweat for This!" 37

6 An Admired Family 39

Frederick Douglass and the Black Press 44

Who Should Go to School? 46

7 A "Shameful" and "Loathsome" Issue 49

Trying to Make a Difference 55

William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator 56

Horace Greeley and the New York Daily Tribune 57

8 A Future U.S. President 59

The Fugitive Slave Act 60

Chester A. Arthur: His Early Years 62

9 Elizabeth Jennings v. Third Avenue Railroad Company 65

Getting to Brooklyn 68

10 The Jury's Decision 71

Part II A Forgotten Hero 77

11 An Uncanny Similarity to Rosa Parks 79

12 What Happened to Elizabeth Jennings? 85

The Civil War Draft Riots 86

The First Free Kindergarten for Colored Children in New York City 88

13 How a Creepy Old House Led to the Writing of This Book 91

14 Retracing Her Footsteps 95

Postscript: Chester A. Arthur: Tragedy Leads to Presidency 101

Bibliography 105

Notes 113

Author's Note about Elizabeth Jennings's Age in 1854 121

Suggested Reading 123

Elizabeth Jennings's Life within a Historical Timeline 124

Important Locations 127

Acknowledgments 129

Illustrations 133

Index 137

About the Author 143

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/16/2017
Hearth (The Delany Sisters Reach High) draws on her journalism roots to carefully piece together the story of a mostly forgotten figure in the struggle for racial equality in the United States. African-American schoolteacher Elizabeth Jennings vehemently fought back when she was refused streetcar service in 1854 Manhattan; her victorious court case against the streetcar company helped integrate public transportation in New York. Hearth grounds Jennings’s story in vivid sensory detail: “she would have walked around piles of horse manure and maybe even the bloated remains of a dead animal or two.” Fifteen chapters pack in contextualizing information, often in sidebars, educating readers on topics ranging from Jim Crow laws and de facto segregation in the north to Jennings’s contemporaries Frederick Douglass and Chester Arthur (Jennings’s lawyer and future U.S. president). Archival photos, newspaper clippings, and resources that include a timeline of Jennings’s life (she founded the first kindergarten for black children in New York City) augment a book that belongs in any civil rights library collection. Ages 8–12. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Wrapped up in Hearth’s detailing of Jennings’s courage is a sobering recognition that the shame of our nation’s history was widespread....Hearth reminds us that Jennings was not only blocked from riding in a streetcar, she also faced institutional obstacles.” — New York Times Book Review

★ “Hearth steps out of the role of omniscient narrator, making the work a personal journey, allowing readers to follow as she describes her process from inspiration to researching and building the tale, one bit of evidence at a time. Completely fascinating and unique.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “Hearth draws on her journalism roots to carefully piece together the story of a mostly forgotten figure in the struggle for racial equality in the United States. ...Heart grounds Jennings’ story in vivid sensory detail...a book that belongs in any civil rights library collection.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[A] gem of a story...illustrations from the era and extensive notes and references help readers follow the story. Those interested in the myriad origins of the civil rights movement will be fascinated by the case and how it galvanized the black community of its day.” — Booklist

“Weaving together historical background with a portrait of Jennings, Hearth has created a compelling account of the court case Jennings vs. Third Avenue Railroad Company—an early landmark case in desegregating New York City transit. ... A superb mentor text . . . brings the story of Elizabeth Jennings to vivid life.” — School Library Journal

“[A] fascinating book chronicling a little-known but important chapter of the battle for civil rights...This is a fine addition to the growing body of excellent books form children about the long battle for civil rights in the U.S.” — The Buffalo News

From the Publisher

[A] gem of a story...illustrations from the era and extensive notes and references help readers follow the story. Those interested in the myriad origins of the civil rights movement will be fascinated by the case and how it galvanized the black community of its day.

Booklist

[A] fascinating book chronicling a little-known but important chapter of the battle for civil rights...This is a fine addition to the growing body of excellent books form children about the long battle for civil rights in the U.S.

The Buffalo News

Wrapped up in Hearth’s detailing of Jennings’s courage is a sobering recognition that the shame of our nation’s history was widespread....Hearth reminds us that Jennings was not only blocked from riding in a streetcar, she also faced institutional obstacles.

New York Times Book Review

[A] gem of a story...illustrations from the era and extensive notes and references help readers follow the story. Those interested in the myriad origins of the civil rights movement will be fascinated by the case and how it galvanized the black community of its day.

Booklist

01/01/2018
Gr 4–7—Hearth sets the stage in this middle grade biography with Elizabeth Jennings hoping to arrive on time at the First Colored American Congregational Church, where she was an organist, before pulling back to explain just what New York City looked, smelled, and operated like in 1854. Weaving together historical background with a portrait of Jennings, Hearth has created a compelling account of the court case Jennings vs. Third Avenue Railroad Company—an early landmark case in desegregating New York City transit. The engaging narrative is supported by plentiful archival maps, photos, and reproductions of primary source documents, such as handwritten reports and newspaper clippings. Sidebars also provide important historical context. The back matter is impressively long—including a six-page bibliography of websites, books, newspapers, journals and reports; extensive chapter and illustration notes; and more, making this a superb mentor text. VERDICT Hearth brings the story of Elizabeth Jennings to vivid life in an eminently readable book.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

School Library Journal