A 540Monthly Membership ensures that 540WMain is able to create and curate low cost/high impact educational content and programming rooted in antiracism, arts/culture & humanities, and wellness. If you love 540WMain consider becoming a 540Monthly Member today. Help 540WMain reach its goal of 100 monthly members. Click here
Irene Morgan Refuses to Change Seats on Bus
On July 16, 1944, Irene Morgan defied Virginia authorities by refusing to change her seat on a segregated bus in Virginia. Morgan was travelling from Virginia to Maryland, when she was told by authorities that she had to move to the back of the bus.
On her way for a doctor’s appointment and already sitting in the area designated for Black passengers, she defied the driver’s order to surrender her seat to a white couple. She stated that because it was an interstate bus, the laws of Virginia did not apply.
Washington Afro-American cover with Irene Morgan.
When handed an arrest warrant, she tore it up and tossed it out the window. Irene’s defiance of white supremacy while traveling through the Upper South eventually led to a Supreme Court decision outlawing segregated seating on interstate bus lines
Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP took on her case and in 1946 the Supreme Court ruling, the court stated in part, “It seems clear to us that seating arrangements for the different races in interstate motor travel require a single, uniform rule to promote and protect national travel. Consequently, we hold the Virginia statute in controversy invalid.”
Southern states refused to enforce the decision, leading to the Freedom Rides and eventually the larger Civil Rights Movement. Irene a trailblazer and womanist died at the age of 90 in Hayes, Va.
Sources:
About 29 Days of Little Known Facts About (Black) American History
29 Days of Little Known Facts About (Black) American History is an annual blog campaign curated by 540WMain that has a mission to promote and share little known facts about Black Americans throughout history every day throughout the month of February. Now in it 3rd year the campaign highlights the life and work of past and present day Black American that are overlooked or underrepresented in our conversations about American history.
540WMain will celebrate its 4 year anniversary with a party and extravaganza on Saturday June 20, 2020. In just four years the organization has become a pillar in the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood and a convener and curator of important and vital community conversations, classes, and programs. Your financial support helps us scale up this work in 2020 and beyond with a year long fundraising goal of $40,000
540WMain, Inc. 
One thought on “Irene Morgan Refuses to Change Seats on Bus by Calvin Eaton | 29 Days of Little Known Facts About (Black) American History (XIII)”