General Lee's daughter arrested?!?

[connecticut yankee]

"On the evening of June 13, 1902, Mary Custis Lee was arrested on an Alexandria streetcar for sitting in the section reserved for black patrons. As the daughter of Robert E. Lee, the General of the Confederate Army, the incident caused quite a stir within the community."

Mary Custis Lee Challenges Streetcar Segregation

Mary Custis Lee, the daughter of the Confederate General, was arrested on an Alexandria streetcar for defying segregation laws.

blogs.weta.org

 

[lupaglupa]

Interesting to see how people jumped to make their own conclusions about her motives. That would never happen today

 

[archieclement]

View attachment 345362

"On the evening of June 13, 1902, Mary Custis Lee was arrested on an Alexandria streetcar for sitting in the section reserved for black patrons. As the daughter of Robert E. Lee, the General of the Confederate Army, the incident caused quite a stir within the community."

Mary Custis Lee Challenges Streetcar Segregation

Mary Custis Lee, the daughter of the Confederate General, was arrested on an Alexandria streetcar for defying segregation laws.

blogs.weta.org

wow 53 years before Rosa Parks, wonder how history overlooked this.

Kudo's to Mary she must have had good parents

 

[Fairfield]

While not a rebellious daughter, Mary Custis Lee showed herself willing to ignore her father's guidance (i.e., not attending weddings) and distanced herself from the female bevy with which the General surrounded himself. Apparently she was as strong as her father.

 

[unionblue]

Interesting, but it appears as though context is everything.

 

[Belle Montgomery]

"One newspaper reported that she refused to move because her luggage was too heavy, another because she was sitting with her black maid. It's something we need to do more research on," - Lee Shepard, Virginia Historical Society's senior archivist

 

[byron ed]

Fascinating gossip, but does it even matter what she did or didn't do? By her own testimony she represented no one but herself; not her father or any class of citizen whatsoever. And yet we're somehow compelled to assign her that. Here we have a middle-aged woman of petty social importance on an evening shopping trip who was oblivious to streetcar law. She risked nothing on behalf of no one.

Gossip is fascinating, but that was roughly equivalent to parking violation.

 

[Ole Miss]

Its not the color of the skin that makes a person "Righteous" but rather the content of one's character. Ms Lee evidently was a "force of nature" and not hampered by mere state rules and regulations. I would have loved to had the opportunity to meet and speak with her.
Regards
David