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Tampa unveils bench honoring Hattie Wright
FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Long before the Montgomery bus boycott made Rosa Parks a household name, a 23-year-old laundress in Tampa named Hattie Wright staged her own act of defiance on a streetcar—a move that would eventually lead her to the Florida Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, city leaders and civil rights icons gathered at MacFarlane Park to ensure her name is never forgotten, dedicating a memorial bench and plaque to Wright and the attorney who defended her.
The backstory:
Wright was 23 years old in 1919 and sitting in the designated Black section of a streetcar when an 18-year-old white man, Pierce Howell, sat next to her. He ordered her to move; she refused. The encounter quickly turned violent.
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"He picks her up and he throws her on the floor," Attorney Masha Rydberg recounted during Wednesday’s event. "She dusts herself off and proudly sits back down in her seat. He does it again. She does it, again."
After being beaten and strangled, Wright fought back, stabbing Howell in the face with a penknife.
Wright was originally arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder and was prosecuted by Robert E. Lee Chancey, a future mayor of Tampa. MacFarlane & MacFarlane, a Tampa law firm, defended Wright. Representatives of the Tampa Bay History Center say court records are unclear. But the city says Hugh C. MacFarlane most likely defended Wright.
Historians say MacFarlane was known for being one of a few attorneys at that time who would provide their services to Black people.
MacFarlane's argument was that Wright should be exonerated, given she was seated in the designated section for Black people, and that she acted in self-defense.
The jury found Wright guilty of a lesser offense, with the judge ruling that Wright had lost her rights the moment she sat next to a white man.
Dig deeper:
Wright appealed the case to the State Supreme Court.
As the plaque at MacFarlane parks says, he argued that "because white men make and enforce the laws, white men then also have to protect the rights of Negro persons."
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MacFarlane also argued that Harwell broke gender norms by attacking Wright because she was a woman. The State Supreme Court unanimously found her innocent and ordered her released.
While the justices didn't rule that she could sit anywhere, they ruled she had a fundamental right to sit somewhere and a right to defend herself.
"Maybe we should call her the Rosa Parks of Tampa," stated Ed Hearns, of the Tampa Bay History Center. "Of course, her story was very different... but this was a time when Black people began to stand up and fight back. And that is what Hattie Wright did."
A legacy set in stone
The new memorial at MacFarlane Park also honors Wright's attorney. Though he was a white man in a position of power, he argued passionately that the laws must protect the "weak, poor, and lowly."
What they're saying:
For former State Senator Arthenia Joyner, the dedication is a reminder of the shoulders today's activists stand on.
"I’m a beneficiary of my ancestors and those Black people and white people who fought for justice and equality long before I was born," Joyner said. "We need a united front across the demographics because this is not the way America is supposed to be."
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor emphasized the importance of dedications and places to remember history.
"If we ignore the past, there is a good chance that we will repeat the mistakes and errors of the past," Castor shared.
Hattie Wright’s legacy is no longer confined to the yellowed pages of 1919 newspapers. Now, she has a permanent seat in the city she helped change.
The Source: The article was written with information presented during Wednesday’s plaque dedication.