"Charlotte Brown"(?-?)

Was the daughter,of James E. and Charlotte Brown sister to Margaret Ann.Her mother,for whom she was named,was a free,black seamtress who purchased her husband James' freedom before they to San Francisco,California during the 1840s.Charlotte L.Brown was the plaintiff in one of the most important early California Civil Rights campaighns.On April 17,1863,she was forcibly removed from a horse-drawn streetcar in San Francisco.Her father who ran a lively stable in San Francisco,brought suit on her behalf against the Omnibus Railroad Company.The successful suit resulted in $5,000 in damages awarded as well as the right of blacks to ride the street cars.The Charlotte Brown case was one of a few civil rights cases brought by prominent free blacks in California to protest discrimination on public transportation.Ms. Brown later married prominent free black civil rights activist,James Riker.