ALEXANDRIA, Va. — One hundred and twenty-four years ago today, at about 7 p.m., Mary Custis Lee was arrested on an Alexandria streetcar. She was 66, the eldest daughter of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and her offense was sitting in the section reserved for Black passengers.
Lee had boarded the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon Electric Railway in Washington, D.C., carrying many bags. Some accounts say she was traveling with her Black maid. She sat near the rear to make exiting easier at her stop. The conductor, Thomas Chauncey, explained the Virginia law requiring Black and white passengers to sit in separate sections and asked her to move. Lee claimed she did not know the law and protested. Chauncey allowed her to stay.
At the next stop, a Black man boarded. Chauncey told Lee she was “occupying a seat to which he was entitled under the law” and asked her again to move to the front section. She refused…