MARCH 27, 1867

In one of the nation’s first sit-ins, a group of Black men boarded a “whites-only” streetcar in Charleston, South Carolina, sitting among the white passengers. The conductor ordered them to move. They stayed. The police ordered them to move. They stayed. The driver unhitched the horses and left the streetcar. 

Protests expanded beyond the single line, and police arrested 11. The continuing protests led Black residents to win the right to ride in the streetcars. Their victory expanded in June when the discrimination of railroads, horse-cars and steamboats were also banned.

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