A Lesser-Known Civil Rights Hero

Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden

Irene Morgan Kirkaldy (1917–2007), a Seventh-day Adventist from Baltimore and one of the lesser-known civil rights heroes, was recently recognized with a new highway marker in Glouchester, Va., honoring her story. In 1944, while traveling home from Virginia, she was arrested for refus-ing to give up her seat in the colored section of the bus to a white passenger. She took her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared interstate transport racial segregation unconstitutional.