Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 38

7. Why Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the Street Cars (Philadelphia: Benjamin C. Bacon, 1866). (27 p.)

Account of the segregation of street cars in Philadelphia. In 1865, a committee of prominent citizens petitioned presidents of the nineteen street car companies serving the city to allow African Americans to ride in non-segregated cars. Some of the presidents agreed, others objected, but eventually all of them decided to let the white riders vote. Consequently, the cars remained segregated. Mr. Stone has marked numerous passages in the pamphlet, especially this one. “But another cause which gives Philadelphia a bad eminence in respect to the treatment of colored people, is the comparatively large numbers of them which she possesses over other northern cities, with the one exception above noted; and this cause seems simply to connect with and form part of another—the fear of amalgamation.” (It is unclear which Northern city is the exception.)