In the summer of 1944, a young black woman boarded a bus in Gloucester, Virginia headed for Baltimore. Sitting in the "Negroes Only" section, she was asked to give up her seat when a white couple boarded. Irene Morgan refused, went to jail, and lost at trial. But a young Thurgood Marshall took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, some eleven years before Rosa Parks, and won a ruling that found segregation in interstate travel unconstitutional. This weekend, the town of Gloucester honors the 83-year-old for her courage.
Copyright 2000 NPR
