Remembering The 1905 Nashville Streetcar Protest

Published October 8, 2015 at 1:52 PM EDT

The first streetcar in Nashville was celebrated with streamers and bunting in 1889. Until the government stepped in 16 years later, the private companies that ran the lines were more concerned with expanding routes than segregating seats. (Calvert Photography/Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Fifty years before Rosa Parks helped spark the modern civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat in the colored section of a city bus to a white passenger, the African-American community in Nashville, Tennessee, took a bold stand – with a dash of entrepreneurial spirit – against Jim Crow laws on their streetcars. Nina Cardona from Here & Now contributor WPLN has the story.

Read more via WPLN, Nashville Public Radio

Reporter

Nina Cardona, reporter and host of All Things Considered at Nashville Public Radio. She tweets @ThatNinaCardona.

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