today we're recognizing charlotte l. brown and mary ellen white. brown was the first to legally challenge racial segregation in the united states when she filed a lawsuit against san francisco street car company in the 1860s after she was forceablely removed from a street car, and this was a segregated street car here in san francisco. she sued the company, won, and was awarded the sum of $5,000 in 1854, which i imagine was quite a bit at that time in our country's history. mary ellen also attacked racial discrimination in san francisco after she and two other black women when ejected from a san francisco street car in 1956. she took the omnibus street car system to court twice, in which the second case was taken all the way to the supreme court. the court ruled that street car exclusion based on race was unlawful. in 1893, the california state legislature enacted legislation on strebanning street car segregation. >> so now, i'm going to have mary allen come up here to speak to you. [applause] >> good morning. my name is mary travis allen and i am

today we're recognizing charlotte l. brown and mary ellen white. brown was the first to legally challenge racial segregation in the united states when she filed a lawsuit against san francisco street car company in the 1860s after she was forceablely removed from a street car, and this was a segregated street car here in san francisco. she sued the company, won, and was awarded the sum of $5,000 in 1854, which i imagine was quite a bit at that time in our country's history. mary ellen also attacked racial discrimination in san francisco after she and two other black women when ejected from a san francisco street car in 1956. she took the omnibus street car system to court twice, in which the second case was taken all the way to the supreme court. the court ruled that street car exclusion based on race was unlawful. in 1893, the california state legislature enacted legislation on strebanning street car segregation. >> so now, i'm going to have mary allen come up here to speak to you. [applause] >> good morning. my name is mary travis allen and i am