"Jim Crow Car" on Trains
(start date: 1902 - end date: 1902)In 1902, Mrs. Lulu Thurman won her lawsuit against Southern Railroad in the Lexington, KY courts. She had originally asked for $10,000 in damages because the train conductor had thought Mrs. Thurman was a Negro and had forced her to ride in the Jim Crow car. Mrs. Thurman was able to prove to the courts that she was white, and the jury awarded her $4,000.
For more see "Woman gets $4,000 verdict," New York Times, Special to the New York Times, 4/18/1902, p. 1.
The Jim Crow railroad car laws would be enacted in 1909, though Thurman's case clearly shows that the segregation of entire railroad cars was in place years before the legislative enactments.
For more see The Separate or "Jim Crow" Car Laws or Legislative Enactments of Fourteen Southern States, by R. H. Boyd; "This Segregated Railway Car Offers a Visceral Reminder of the Jim Crow Era" at The National Museum of African American History and Culture website; and Segreation of Railroad Cars at The History Engine website.
