Caroline LeCount

{{Short description|American educator and civil rights activist (c.1846–1923)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Caroline LeCount

| image = Caroline LeCount.jpg

| birth_name = Caroline Rebecca Le Count

| birth_date = {{circa|1846}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1923|01|24|1846}}

| resting_place = Eden Cemetery

| education = Institute for Colored Youth

| known_for = Anti-segregation activism

| partner = Octavius Catto (fiancé)

}}

Caroline Rebecca Le Count ({{Circa|1846}} – January 24, 1923; often written as LeCount) was an American educator and civil rights activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is often compared to later activist Rosa Parks for her early efforts to desegregate public transportation.

Early life

LeCount was born in South Philadelphia in 1846 as one of four children. Her father, James LeCount, was a cabinet maker and undertaker who was probably involved in the Underground Railroad, as stories have been passed down about him hiding slaves in coffins.{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2020 |title=Caroline LeCount & the Ohio Street School |url=http://inherownright.org/spotlight/biographical-profiles/feature/caroline-lecount-the-ohio-street-school |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=Biographical Profiles - Explore the story of women's activism through documents & images |language=en}}{{Sfn|Lane|1991|p=126}}{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=118}} Caroline began school at a young age and graduated at the top of her five-person class from the Institute for Colored Youth in 1863.{{Cite web |title=Caroline LeCount |url=https://catto.ushistory.org/catto_people/caroline-lecount/ |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=catto.ushistory.org}}{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=288}}

Career

After LeCount passed the teaching exam, becoming the first black woman in Philadelphia to do so,{{Cite web |title=Before Rosa Parks: The fight for Philly transit equity and the Black women on the frontlines |url=https://whyy.org/articles/before-rosa-parks-caroline-lecount-and-others-helped-desegregate-philly-streetcars/ |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=WHYY |language=en-US}} she began teaching at the Ohio Street School (later renamed the Octavius V. Catto School). She became principal around 1868, making her the second black female principal in Philadelphia. She notably defended black teachers from an accusation of inferiority, pointing out that they were required to receive higher test scores than white teachers in order to become certified.{{Cite web |title=Caroline LeCount |url=https://exhibits.library.villanova.edu/index.php/institute-colored-youth/graduates/caroline-lecount-bio |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=exhibits.library.villanova.edu}}{{Cite web |last=Giesberg |first=Judith |title=Rename Taney Street after Caroline Le Count {{!}} Opinion |url=https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/taney-street-rename-caroline-le-count-20211206.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206233016/https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/taney-street-rename-caroline-le-count-20211206.html |archive-date=December 6, 2021 |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=December 6, 2021 |language=en}} She retired in 1911.

LeCount was an accomplished orator and poetry reader.{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=343}} She read at the openings of various churches and was noted by The Christian Recorder for her ability to imitate an Irish accent when needed.

Along with Jacob C. White Jr. and William Carl Bolivar, LeCount helped sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois with research for his study The Philadelphia Negro.{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=474}}

Activism

LeCount was part of the Ladies' Union Association, an organization of women supporting the Union in the American Civil War. As part of their efforts, she and other black women would ride streetcars to deliver supplies to troops even though black riders were often removed by force.{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=345}} LeCount and others would board, be forcefully removed, and then appeal to the courts and the public to ban discrimination on streetcars. LeCount, along with her fiancé Octavius Catto and abolitionist William Still, also made petitions and lobbying efforts towards desegregation. The historian Daniel R. Biddle noted that "Caroline Le Count did almost the same thing as Rosa Parks did, but her streetcar in 1867 was powered by a horse."{{Sfn|Biddle|2010|p=2}}

When the city passed a law in 1867 banning segregation on public transport, LeCount successfully brought charges against a driver who wouldn't let her ride. The city then issued an official notice to its transit companies that they were no longer allowed to discriminate against black passengers.{{Cite web |date=July 29, 2013 |title=Caroline Le Count {{!}} Pennsylvania Civil War 150 |url=http://www.pacivilwar150.com/ThroughPeople/AfricanAmericans/CarolineLeCount |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729064020/http://www.pacivilwar150.com/ThroughPeople/AfricanAmericans/CarolineLeCount |archive-date=July 29, 2013 |access-date=September 25, 2022 |website=The Civil War in Pennsylvania}}

Death and legacy

LeCount died on January 24, 1923, and was buried at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. Because of her refusal to leave segregated streetcars, LeCount has been called "Philly's Rosa Parks" in some modern media outlets.{{Cite web |last=Barkley |first=Charles |date=January 28, 2016 |title=Philadelphia Black History Month All-Star of the Day: Caroline LeCount |url=https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/caroline-lecount-biography/ |access-date=September 26, 2022 |website=The Philadelphia Citizen |language=en-US}}

File:LeCount and South Philadelphia.jpg|alt=see caption]] In 2022, some Philadelphia residents began petitioning to rename the city's Taney Street–named for Roger B. Taney, the Supreme Court justice who decided Dred Scott v. Sandford–after LeCount.{{Cite web |title=Op-Ed: Let's LeCount Taney Out |url=https://hiddencityphila.org/2022/02/op-ed-lets-lecount-taney-out/ |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=Hidden City Philadelphia |date=February 18, 2022 |language=en-US}} To mark the centennial of her death, the "Rename Taney" group commissioned a headstone to mark LeCount's grave and organized a ceremony at the site.{{Cite web |date=October 21, 2023 |title= Civil rights activist Caroline LeCount gets a tombstone 100 years after her death |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/caroline-lecount-rename-taney-coalition-20231021.html |access-date=October 22, 2023 |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en-US}} According to organizers, the renaming campaign garnered the support of 90% of residents along the street. The street was officially renamed in November 2024.{{Cite web |last=Conde |first=Ximena |date=October 16, 2024 |title=Taney Street will be renamed after civil rights activist Caroline LeCount, ‘Philadelphia’s Rosa Parks’ |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/north-south-taney-street-renaming-lecount-20241016.html |access-date=October 16, 2024 |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Brandt |first1=Joe | last2=Andersen | first2=Eve |date=November 14, 2024 |title=Philadelphia will rename Taney Street after trailblazing educator Caroline LeCount |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/taney-street-roger-philadelphia-dred-scott/ |access-date=February 24, 2025 |website=CBS News |language=en}}

References

= Bibliography =

{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Roger |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191929764 |title=William Dorsey's Philadelphia and ours : on the past and future of the Black city in America |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=1-4237-2628-6 |location=New York |oclc=191929764}}
{{Cite book |last=Biddle |first=Daniel R. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/650495418 |title=Tasting freedom : Octavius Catto and the battle for equality in Civil War America |date=2010 |publisher=Temple University Press |others=Murray Dubin |isbn=978-1-59213-467-0 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=650495418}}