Description of a streetcar strike in Montgomery, Alabama, written by newspaper correspondent H. W. Laird.
In 1906, the Montgomery City Council passed an ordinance requiring blacks and whites to ride on separate streetcars. The Montgomery Traction Company, owner of the streetcars, refused to comply because it would not have been profitable. It would have required them to run more streetcars on their exis...
| Format: | Electronic |
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Alabama Department of Archives and History
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| Online Access: | http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/2039 |
| Summary: | In 1906, the Montgomery City Council passed an ordinance requiring blacks and whites to ride on separate streetcars. The Montgomery Traction Company, owner of the streetcars, refused to comply because it would not have been profitable. It would have required them to run more streetcars on their existing routes. On November 23, all the streetcars were locked down in Court Square and the conductors and motormen were arrested. The shutdown lasted two hours while Montgomery Traction got a thirty-day injunction allowing them to operate as usual. A compromise was eventually reached where African Americans would ride in the backs of the cars. See Q6906 for a related photograph. |
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