The Irene Morgan Story Begins

The Irene Morgan Story Begins is a Virginia historical marker in Gloucester County, dedicated 2019.

2425 Hayes Road

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On this site stood the Hayes Store Post Office, where Irene Morgan boarded a Greyhound bus on 16 July 1944. Morgan, an African American woman, was returning home to Baltimore, MD, after visiting her mother. About 25 miles north of here, the bus driver ordered her to give up her seat so that white passengers could sit. Refusing to comply, she was arrested and jailed in Saluda, VA. Her case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided in Morgan v. Virginia (1946) that laws requiring the segregation of passengers in interstate transportation were unconstitutional. Morgan took her stand 11 years before Rosa Parks in Montgomery, AL.

TodayHistorical map

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USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

1862 · Map of the battle ground near Richmond, showing plainly, every point of interest of the… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1879 · Composite: New Map Of The Peninsula Embracing Delaware And The Eastern Shores Of Maryland… (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1889 · Virginia and West Virginia (eastern portion). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1891 · (Virginia, N. Carolina) Railroad Map of the United States. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1906 · Williamsburg, Virginia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

(Virginia, N. Carolina) Railroad Map of the United States, 1891, covering the location of The Irene Morgan Story Begins, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — (Virginia, N. Carolina) Railroad Map of the United States, 1891, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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The Irene Morgan Story Begins

Historical maps covering this location

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