In 1884, public school teacher Ida B. Wells sued the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad company for refusing to allow her to sit in first class, despite her having purchased a first-class ticket.[1] She complained that the front passenger car which the conductor had forcibly moved her to, was unsuitable due to the boisterous behavior of its passengers, who were smoking and drinking.[1] The railroad lost the lawsuit and was ordered by pay the $300 maximum fine, plus $500 in damages.[2] The railroad appealed, and in 1887, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decision, ruling that the smoking car she had been given was equivalent to first class.[2]
^ abCartwright, Joseph (1976). The triumph of Jim Crow: Tennessee race relations in the 1880s. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 189–191. ISBN0-87049-192-X.
^ abLisandrelli, Elaine Slivinski (1998). Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Crusader against lynching. Enslow Publishers. pp. 5–9. ISBN0-89490-947-9.
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