Ida B. Wells lost her railroad desegregation suit on appeal in Tennessee

Evidence

A conductor on a train traveling from Memphis to Woodstock, Tennessee, insists that Ida B. Wells leave her seat in the first-class rear car and move to the rougher front car, where drinking and smoking are permitted. Wells refuses and is forcibly removed from the train. Afterward, she sues the Chesapeake, Ohio, and Southwestern Railroad Company. She wins and is awarded $500 in damages, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overturns the ruling. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 828

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader legal history of civil rights rulings overturned on appeal — echoes the arc of Plessy v. Ferguson and the collapse of Reconstruction-era civil rights gains.