There was a trip downtown - with cameras and speeches and pomp and circumstance. 4th graders last year, learned of Elizabeth Jennings who desegregated public transportation in NYC in 1854 (horse and buggy). They petitioned the City for a street name - and eventually a portion of Park Row downtown was co-named today for her.What struck me from the kids' story: when she was not allowed equal rights, Elizabeth hired a lawyer who fought and won the battle. He went on to become a US president. She remained largely ignored, until over 150 years later some school kids got a street (a block of a street really) named after her.
We went, speeches were made, some kids talked and sang, a kid had to climb on the sign to unveil the new name (as the string pulling originally planned tore the paper apart), Victor taught the kids about yummy juneberries (until the librarian came and said: shhhhht!) - and a good time was had by all
Here's some coverage from NBC news
and an article from NY1
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