Kids Turn Civil Rights History Lesson Into City Action

By Andrea Appleton
POSTED JUNE 15, 2007

If it weren’t for a group of persistent kids, the woman who desegregated New York City’s first mass transit—streetcars—might have faded, without acclaim, from city memory. But a sign reading “Elizabeth Jennings Place” is now raised high at the corner of Park Row and Spruce Street, due to the efforts of 3rd and 4th graders from P.S. 361 on the Lower East Side.

The school’s entire student body, along with Chancellor Joel Klein, turned out on June 14 for the sign’s unveiling at Pace University Plaza. For teacher Miriam Sicherman’s 3rd and 4th grade class (now 4th and 5th graders), it was the culmination of more than a year of attending meetings, gathering signatures, and pressuring elected officials.

The class first learned about Jennings while preparing for a school performance celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

In July of 1854, Jennings, an African-American schoolteacher, attempted to board a streetcar that lacked the “Colored People Allowed in This Car” sign. A conductor forcibly removed her with the help of a police officer. Jennings sued the railway company and won (with the aid of her lawyer, future president
Chester A. Arthur).

The kids were surprised they had never heard of Jennings.

“Everyone knows about Rosa
Parks,” said 4th grader Timothy Allan. “But Elizabeth Jennings was 100 years before her. She’s an unknown hero that helped our state.”

“We wanted to get more done for her,” said another 4th grader,June Travis. “If it weren’t for her, we’d still be separated from riding with white people.”

While doing research on Jennings, Sicherman discovered that in the early 1990s a group of 6th graders had petitioned the City Council to have a corner of Park Row and Pearl Street, where Jennings was ejected, named for the activist. They got no response.

“So I went to my kids and I said, ‘Look, these kids didn’t get anywhere, and I can’t guarantee that we’ll get anywhere, either, but we can give it a try,’” Sicherman recalled. “And they were very enthusiastic.” 

The corner of Park Row (originally called Chatham Street) and Pearl Street already had a co-name. So the class decided that renaming the Pearl Street Playground at Fulton and Pearl Streets would be even better. There, a plaque would explain what Jennings did. But despite the children’s charming presentation, Community Board 1 turned them down. Finally, the class settled on Park Row between
Spruce and Beekman Streets. And the rest is history.

“I’m so proud of the work these students did,” Klein said at the ceremony. “They did real world learning and learned history, as well as changing the face of this city.”

Klein and an entourage of rambunctious kids gathered under the sign, which remained sheathed in paper. A rope dangled from the paper and dozens of hands reached up to help pull.

“One! Two! Three!” yelled Klein. But the group tugged with such enthusiasm that the paper tore and Elizabeth Jennings remained veiled. Timothy Allan didn’t miss a beat.  He climbed the signpost and finished the job.

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