Complaints Against Southern

Winfield Cozart and his wife file a complaint against the Southern Railway Company for discrimination and being forced to ride in a “Jim Crow car.”

Washington, D.C. Post, Sept. 4th. - Winfield F. Cozart, colored of Atlantic City, N.J., yesterday filed a formal complaint with the interstate commerce commission against the Southern Railway Company, in which he charges that the company discriminated against him and his wife while they were passengers on a train from Atlanta to Washington, by compelling them to ride in a “Jim Crow” car. He states that men and women were crowded together in a smoking compartment, which was unsanitary, and that towels, soap, and other conveniences furnished white passengers were denied him and his wife. He asked the commission to issue an order requiring the railway company to furnish the same accommodation to Negroes as is furnished to white persons. The commission, about a year ago, decided that railroads could segregate colored passengers, but must provide for them the same accommodations as for white passengers.

“Complaints Against Southern,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/714.