Trouble at Newport News
January 13, 1906
Summary
Attorneys and black community members protest the Jim Crow streetcar laws. The Planet urges the boycott: “Every time you want to ride on a street car put five cents in a bank and at the close of the year, count the fund and see how happy you will be.”
Transcription
The Mayor and the City Council of Newport News, Virginia are reported to have decided to introduce the “Jim Crow” street-car system in that locality. Attorney J Thomas Newsome has apparently taken the lead in the movement against it. He is pursuing the proper course. Every honorable and legitimate means should be resorted to in order to defeat the pernicious measure. It is a nuisance and in this city, thousands of white people are as bitterly opposed to the innovations as colored people.
It is one of the greatest means of breeding strife and ill-feeling between the races that has ever been proposed. Strange to say, more white people than colored ones have been arrested as a result of its operation in this city. The number would be doubled if the conductors enforced the provisions to the letter. The company here had to advise discretion and insist upon leniency before even temporary peace could be obtained.
As it is since the streetcar companies put this plan into operation in this city, the receipts fell off to such an extent that the streetcar company was unable to pay interest on its bonds and it was forced into the hands of the receivers. Theses receivers are still in charge and there is no immediate prospect of the street-car company’s property being resisted from the hands of the UNited States District Court.
The colored people of Newport News should be careful of their conduct and utterances. Conduct the fight along honorable lines and discountenance lawlessness of every kind. When the buttons come bearing the inscriptions “I will walk,” live up to that inscription. With the level ground in that neighborhood and the numberless carriages, private and public owned by colored people, it seems to us that somebody’s pocket will feel the effect of the crusade.
When a colored person rides on a car here it is strictly business and no pleasure. More colored people in Richmond own their horses, buggies, wagons, and bicycles than ever before. It has been so long since we had our feet on a street-car in Richmond that we have well nigh forgotten the feeling of electric travel. God has been kind and good to us and we find that we can make as good time footing it as we can going over a given route on a street-car with its numberless stopping for passengers.
Except in cases of sickness or disability, streetcar travel is a luxury anyway, when it comes to a city the size of Richmond. Country people walk five miles and they don't even grunt about it while persons with money and high ideas moan if they have six blocks to walk. Every time you want to ride on a street car put five cents in a bank and at the close of the year, count the fund and see how happy you will be.
Walking cures insomnia, sleeplessness, indigestion, headache, stiffness in the limbs, constipation, dizziness, and sometimes reduces swelling in the joints. It increases the weekly earnings by saving street-car fares and helps the Negro portion of the community by increasing their self respect. Attorney Newsome is all right. Colored people of Newport NEws, rub your feet and legs with buzzards oil and witch hazel, and get ready to stay off the street-cars.
It is one of the greatest means of breeding strife and ill-feeling between the races that has ever been proposed. Strange to say, more white people than colored ones have been arrested as a result of its operation in this city. The number would be doubled if the conductors enforced the provisions to the letter. The company here had to advise discretion and insist upon leniency before even temporary peace could be obtained.
As it is since the streetcar companies put this plan into operation in this city, the receipts fell off to such an extent that the streetcar company was unable to pay interest on its bonds and it was forced into the hands of the receivers. Theses receivers are still in charge and there is no immediate prospect of the street-car company’s property being resisted from the hands of the UNited States District Court.
The colored people of Newport News should be careful of their conduct and utterances. Conduct the fight along honorable lines and discountenance lawlessness of every kind. When the buttons come bearing the inscriptions “I will walk,” live up to that inscription. With the level ground in that neighborhood and the numberless carriages, private and public owned by colored people, it seems to us that somebody’s pocket will feel the effect of the crusade.
When a colored person rides on a car here it is strictly business and no pleasure. More colored people in Richmond own their horses, buggies, wagons, and bicycles than ever before. It has been so long since we had our feet on a street-car in Richmond that we have well nigh forgotten the feeling of electric travel. God has been kind and good to us and we find that we can make as good time footing it as we can going over a given route on a street-car with its numberless stopping for passengers.
Except in cases of sickness or disability, streetcar travel is a luxury anyway, when it comes to a city the size of Richmond. Country people walk five miles and they don't even grunt about it while persons with money and high ideas moan if they have six blocks to walk. Every time you want to ride on a street car put five cents in a bank and at the close of the year, count the fund and see how happy you will be.
Walking cures insomnia, sleeplessness, indigestion, headache, stiffness in the limbs, constipation, dizziness, and sometimes reduces swelling in the joints. It increases the weekly earnings by saving street-car fares and helps the Negro portion of the community by increasing their self respect. Attorney Newsome is all right. Colored people of Newport NEws, rub your feet and legs with buzzards oil and witch hazel, and get ready to stay off the street-cars.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Emma Roberts
Citation
“Trouble at Newport News,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 15, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/139.