Why Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the Street Cars

The pamphlet documents the systematic exclusion of Black residents from Philadelphia streetcars, tracing local campaigns to secure carriage access, the slow action of a reform committee, and repeated ejections enforced by police. It recounts legislative obstruction, failed petitions, ignored criminal complaints by grand juries, pending civil suits, and mixed press responses, while noting white passengers’ indifference or hostility. The analysis connects these transit barriers to broader social exclusion, citing segregated schools, resistance to integrating public celebrations and militia parades, and the denial of state-sponsored orphan support for children of Black soldiers.