The Venerable Pastor

Abstract

Segregation on trains, which was not the rule in 1883, became so in the 1890s, when Kentucky decided to imitate its sister Southern states and compel railroads to provide separate coaches based on race. This chapter narrates in detail the campaign of misinformation that led up to passage of the Separate Coach Law in May 1892, and the campaign against it. Elisha Green published his autobiography in 1888, ending on a triumphal note as he told of the assault on the train and his subsequent legal victory. But his life story was not over, as he continued to pastor his two churches for five more years. The Separate Coach Act went into effect Oct. 1, 1893, but Green was too ill to travel, having but a month to live. He died Nov. 1.