Elizabeth Jennings Graham

Elizabeth Jennings Graham (March 1827 – June 8, 1901) was an African-American teacher and civil rights figure.

In 1854, Graham insisted on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies were private and most operated segregated cars. Her case was decided in her favor in 1855, and it led to the eventual desegregation of all New York City transit systems by 1865.

After the New York Draft Riots of July 1863, where there were numerous attacks against the Afro-American community, Graham and her husband Charles Graham left the city, moving to join her mother Elizabeth and sister Matilda Jennings in Eatontown, New Jersey. After his death in 1867, she returned with her family to New York City. Graham started the city's first kindergarten for Afro-American children, operating it from her home until her death in 1901.

Elizabeth Jennings was born free March 1830, one of the three children of Thomas L. Jennings (1792-1859) and his wife, also named Elizabeth (1798-1873). He was a free black and she was born into slavery. He became a successful tailor, the first known African-American holder of a patent in the United States (his was granted by New York State in 1821), and an influential member of New York's black community. With fees from his patented dry-cleaning process, Thomas Jennings bought his wife's freedom, as she was considered an indentured servant until 1827 under the state's gradual abolition law of 1799. Their daughter Elizabeth, then, was born free and received an education.

Elizabeth Jennings's mother was a prominent woman who is known for her speech "On the Cultivation of Black Women’s Minds". her mother was a member of the Ladies Literary Society of New York, which was founded in 1834. The literary society was founded by New York's elite black women to promote self-improvement through community activities, reading and discussion. This speech was produced and given in 1837, when the younger Elizabeth was still a young child. In the speech, her mother speaks about how the neglect of the cultivating mind will keep the blacks inferior to the whites. This will also have the whites/enemies believe that the blacks do not have any minds at all. Jennings believed the mind was very powerful and could help with the improvement to abolish slavery and discrimination. Therefore, she called upon black women to have a mind and take action. The importance of improving the mind was a consistent theme among elite black women.

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