Today SEPTA celebrated Black History Month and honored the life and work of Caroline LeCount who was an educator and activist who fought to desegregate Philadelphia’s streetcar system in 1867 nearly a century before Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott.
LeCount was born in South Philadelphia in 1846. She was the first black woman in Philadelphia to pass the teaching exam and soon became the second black female principal in Philadelphia.
LeCount was also part of the Ladies’ Union Association during the American Civil War. She and other black women would ride streetcars to deliver supplies to troops even though black riders were often removed by force. LeCount and others would board, be forcefully removed, and then appeal to the courts and the public to ban discrimination on streetcars.
LeCount and her fiancé Octavius Catto and abolitionist William Still made petitions and lobbying efforts towards desegregation.
The historian Daniel R. Biddle noted that “Caroline LeCount did almost the same thing as Rosa Parks did but her streetcar in 1867 was powered by a horse.”
The city passed a law in 1867 banning segregation on public transport and LeCount successfully brought charges against a driver who wouldn’t let her ride. The city then issued an official notice to its transit companies that they were no longer allowed to discriminate against black passengers.
LeCount is sometimes called “Philly’s Rosa Parks” because of her refusal to leave segregated streetcars.
At today’s event SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth E. Lawerence Jr. and SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer gave remarks highlighting transit’s close ties with civil rights and how that has served as a platform for change throughout history.
Students from St. Martin de Porres School Choir performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Eric Shomari-Kazi Grimes and Robb Carter led an interactive drum ensemble.
SEPTA’s Culture and Belonging Council leader Tamla Ginyard noted “Transportation is about more than moving people forward. It’s about connecting people to jobs, education, and opportunity.”