Sallie Robinson

Sallie E. Robinson (born March 17 1851, date of death unknown), a 19th-century African-American civil rights activist.

On the evening of May 22, 1879, Sallie Robinson, a 28-year-old black woman, bought two first-class tickets at Grand Junction, Tennessee, for a train trip to Lynchburg, Virginia.

The conductor held Robinson back ("bruising her arm and jerking her roughly around," she alleged) and pushed her into the smoking car.

The Robinsons finished the ride in the parlor car but filed complaints with the railroad about their treatment and then sued for $500 under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1875.

At trial, the conductor testified that he had thought Joseph to be a white man with a black woman and his experience was that such associations were "for illicit purposes."