Born: 1846, United States
Died: 24 January 1923
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Caroline Le Count
Philadelphia civil rights activist and educator Caroline LeCount’s work to desegregate public transportation came decades before the better remembered efforts of activists like Rosa Parks. As part of the Ladies’ Union Association (which supported the Union in the US Civil War), she and other African-American women rode streetcars to deliver supplies to troops at a time when African-American passengers were often removed by force. When this happened, the women would appeal to courts and the public to legally ban such discrimination. LeCount also crafted petitions and made lobbying efforts to end segregation. After the city passed an 1867 law banning segregation on public transportation, LeCount brought charges against a driver who wouldn’t let her ride – and she won.
After becoming the first African-American woman in Philadelphia to pass the teaching exam, she started teaching at the Ohio Street School. When she became principal circa 1868, she was the city’s second African-American woman principal. She spoke out against racist accusations that African-American teachers were inferior, pointing out that they actually had to receive higher test scores than their white counterparts to become certified. A noted orator and poetry reader, she also helped W. E. B. Du Bois with research for his study The Philadelphia Negro.