Lee Gen. Robert E. Lee's Daughter Arrested

[Barrycdog]

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Source: Cleveland Gazette June 21, 1902: Gen. Robert E. Lee's Daughter Arrested

Volume: 19...
Issue Number: 46
Page Number: 02
Date: 06/21/1902

 

[Copperhead-mi]

I had always thought the term "Afro-American" was first used in the late 1960's. I had no idea it was used back in the early twentieth century.

 

[AndyHall]

Yes, I thought of that as a more recent term, too.

 

[rhettbutler1865]

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​

Source: Cleveland Gazette June 21, 1902: Gen. Robert E. Lee's Daughter Arrested

Volume: 19...
Issue Number: 46
Page Number: 02
Date: 06/21/1902

Nice--keep 'em coming, Barry...I just love these little stories! I finally sent for Robertson's "The Untold Civil War"--can't wait to read it!

 

[Pat Answer]

Since 1898 at least, according to this:

 

[kepi]

Ok, she sat in the Afro-American car and would not get up. Why was she in that car?
Was she protesting the law or simply being stubborn?

I obviously missed something.

Great story in any event. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Pat Young]

Yes, I would like to know. Was she protesting or displacing?

 

[MaryDee]

Im intrigued, and would love to know more!

 

[Pat Young]

According to this article, some believed at the time that she was challenging Jim Crow but the motive is still unclear:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102385_4.html

 

[Pat Young]

Here is more on her arrest
http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/06/13/mary-custis-lee-challenges-streetcar-segregation

 

[kepi]

Here is more on her arrest
http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/06/13/mary-custis-lee-challenges-streetcar-segregation

That is amazing. Good for her and good for the Father.

 

[Northern Light]

Ok, she sat in the Afro-American car and would not get up. Why was she in that car?
Was she protesting the law or simply being stubborn?

I obviously missed something.

Great story in any event. Thanks for posting it.

It is not known if she was protesting or just tired or if she wanted to sit with her maid. Apparently she had a lot of shopping with her and she didn't want to move despite being asked.
http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/06/13/mary-custis-lee-challenges-streetcar-segregation

 

[Northern Light]

It is not known if she was protesting or just tired or if she wanted to sit with her maid. Apparently she had a lot of shopping with her and she didn't want to move despite being asked.
http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/06/13/mary-custis-lee-challenges-streetcar-segregation

I guess we were on the same wavelength, Pat!

 

[Pat Young]

I guess we were on the same wavelength, Pat!

Yup. This would be a neat thing to write an article about if someone could come up with more evidence on motives. No matter which reason given, it would make a good story: "Proto-Freedom Rider", "Privileged Disruptive Rich Lady", or "Too Tired to Be Bigoted".

 

[diane]

It doesn't strike me that she did it for any protest, seeing as she said she didn't know about the law. In her day it was customary for black maids to ride with their mistress, so she wouldn't see why she and her maid had to be at different ends of the same bus. And, it's a little ironic she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a black man...it usually went the other way around!

 

[Northern Light]

It doesn't strike me that she did it for any protest, seeing as she said she didn't know about the law. In her day it was customary for black maids to ride with their mistress, so she wouldn't see why she and her maid had to be at different ends of the same bus. And, it's a little ironic she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a black man...it usually went the other way around!

I was a bit surprized at that too, Diane. Reverse discrimination? Very odd!

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

At least it wasn't a DUI/DWI or such . . .

 

[roberts]

I had always thought the term "Afro-American" was first used in the late 1960's. I had no idea it was used back in the early twentieth century.

On a newspaper search I found a first usage in 1873 and an 1880 letter to the editor from an Afro-American urging the adoption for reference to black Americans. The usage of the term "African American" goes back much further ( 1830's)

 

[MaryDee]

Thank you, Pat, for the fascinating articles. The trunk full of letters sounds like a real treasure--I want to read Pryor's book, and I hope that the family will agree to the release of the love letters!

 

[Allie]

It's a little like parking in a handicapped space, in a way - after all, the black man who wished to sit there was not free to go take her spot in the white section. The law was a bad law, but her actions in violating it were not laudable. The wasn't about an abstract idea, she inconvenienced a real person. Someone had to stand because she chose to sit in his spot instead of moving.