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Samuel
Cisco (1855-1897) South Border Lot 40 Grave 8
Samuel
Cisco was a resident of the nearby town of Jamaica, one of the
earliest settlements in America. He and his wife Elizabeth
raised their children there. Jamaica had a large African
American population since the early Colonial Days.
He
owned a scavenger business and was a very successful
businessman. The town had a wonderful school system for all the
children, but in the late 1800’s the school system decided to
open a school that would segregate the black children. He and
his wife refused to send their children to this segregated
school as they believed rightfully the quality of education was
not equal and lacking in scope. Knowing his rights as an
American, he fought this battle in the highest courts. He was
ready to pay dearly for his rights and for his children and was
arrested for refusing to send his children to that school. He
was in and out of jail and courtrooms for many years.
In
1895, he argued before the New York Supreme Court; “I pay taxes
and have the right to send my children to the school in the
district where they reside.”
He
continued the battle until his death on April 29, 1897.
Elizabeth continued this fight after Samuel’s death. She argued
that Jamaica’s school system violated the New York City Charter
and the General School Law, which both provided that the schools
were to be open to all persons “over five and under twenty-one
years of age.” Justice Garret Garretson, also buried at Maple
Grove, had dismissed the case from Samuel and then heard it
again with Elizabeth in Supreme Court.
Finally, in 1900 New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt signed a
law abolishing segregation in all New York urban schools. Cisco
is buried in an unmarked grave in the South Border. The
photograph pictured here is Public School 48, the “colored “
school in Jamaica.
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