Barbara E. Pope was an American teacher, author, and civil rights activist whose battle against systemic racism and personal struggles ultimately led to her tragic end.
Barbara Pope was born in January 1854 in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to Alfred and Hannah Pope. Her father, Alfred, had been among a group of enslaved Africans who attempted the largest nonviolent escape attempt in US history on the schooner Pearl in 1848. Though the escape attempt failed, it showcased the courage that Alfred would pass down to his daughter.
Upon the death of their enslaver in 1850, Alfred and Hannah were granted their freedom, allowing Alfred to start a waste removal business and invest in real estate. As an esteemed community leader, he became a member of the Board of Trustees of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown. Barbara would later join this legacy by becoming a teacher in one of these schools at just 19 years old, marking the beginning of her journey in education and advocacy.
In 1884, Pope took a position at the prestigious Tuskegee Normal Institute in Alabama, led by Booker T. Washington. However, she returned to Washington, D.C., after a year to continue her teaching career. By 1888, she left teaching and joined the Interstate Commerce Commission as a clerk.
During the 1890s, Pope began publishing fiction that caught the attention of prominent civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois, who included her stories in an exhibition at the Paris Exposition of 1900. Through her writing, Pope expressed the struggles and aspirations of Black Americans, contributing her voice to the movement for racial justice. Though she never married, Pope’s activism was deeply personal, and she forged connections with other pioneering figures of her time.
In 1906, against her father’s wishes, she joined the Niagara Movement, an early civil rights organization founded by W.E.B. Du Bois and other leaders to combat racial discrimination and advocate for equal rights. She was among its first female members.
Barbara Pope’s defining moment came on August 7, 1906, when she purchased a ticket from Washington, D.C., to Paeonian Springs, Virginia. Onboard the train, she made a bold choice by sitting in the “white-only” section. When a conductor instructed her to move to the “colored” section, which was cramped and offered seats facing backward, Pope refused. The conductor, growing impatient, threatened her with arrest, but Pope remained adamant and refused to comply.
When the train stopped at Falls Church, Pope was violently removed from the train by constables and detained for hours at the mayor’s office. She was then humiliated in front of other passengers and locals, forced to await her hearing at the train station. This mock trial ended with Pope being fined $10 plus court costs for “violating the separate car law of the State of Virginia.”
At the annual meeting of the Niagara Movement later that month in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Pope’s case became a key agenda item. The group debated whether her case could serve as a test to challenge segregation in interstate travel. Despite Du Bois’s initial hesitation, the movement ultimately decided to support Pope’s appeal.
Her appeal was initially unsuccessful in October 1906 at an Alexandria circuit court, but Pope, backed by the Niagara Movement, took her case to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. In early 1907, she won a landmark victory when the court overturned the original ruling and ordered that the fine be refunded to her. This decision established a precedent that Virginia could not fine interstate passengers who refused to comply with Jim Crow laws, a triumph that Du Bois highlighted as a significant achievement for the movement.
With this legal success, Pope pursued further justice by suing the Southern Railway Company for damages, seeking $25,000 for the ordeal she endured. Her case opened in June 1907 in Washington, D.C. The jury ruled in her favor, but awarded her just one penny. Nevertheless, the verdict demonstrated that interstate travelers could challenge racial discrimination in federal courts, sending a powerful message to Southern states enforcing Jim Crow laws.
Following her legal victory, Pope’s life took a dark turn. The mental toll of her prolonged battle, combined with the emotional strain of facing pervasive racial discrimination, job loss, insomnia, and growing depression, weighed heavily on her and likely contributed to her decision to end her life.
On a September evening, at age 54, she walked to a secluded area known as Lovers’ Lane in Georgetown’s Montrose Park. There, she pinned a note addressed to the coroner onto her dress, and hanged herself. The note said she felt her brain was “on fire.”
Although her life ended in tragedy, the impact of her actions resonated through the years, inspiring others to stand up against racial injustice.
Pope’s legacy can be seen in the many activists who followed in her footsteps, using similar methods of civil disobedience to challenge discriminatory laws.
