AMERICA’S FIRST FREEDOM RIDER
Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights
It wasn’t easy to get around New York City in 1854. Omnibus accidents were commonplace. The Five Points gangs regularly attacked pedestrians. Pickpockets, drunks and kidnappers were part of the daily street scene. And, rival police forces watched and argued over who should help. But none of this was on Elizabeth Jennings’s mind the day she climbed the platform onto the Chatham Street horsecar. That was the day the conductor told her to wait for the next car because it had “her people in it.”  That was the day she was assaulted by the conductor, aided by a NY police officer.  And that was the day her destination—and that of the country—took a sudden turn. This is the little-known story of Lizzie Jennings, her attorney, future U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, and the $250 verdict they won against the Third Avenue Railroad.  It’s also part of a bigger story about race relations, desegregation and the struggle for equality in America.

Eight Cousins Books, our co-host, will have copies of this book at the talk.
The book will also be available in the store at 189 Main Street in Falmouth.