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On August 1, 1952, Women’s Army Corps (WAC) private and Washington native, Sarah Keys Evans boarded a bus at Fort Dix, New Jersey, as she was headed home to Washington to visit family. “She chose a seat in the middle of the bus, which she legally could do in New Jersey,” said Leesa Jones, director of the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum. “Around midnight the bus arrived at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. During the driver change, she was asked to move to the back of the bus so a white marine could take her seat. She refused, and all of the passengers, except for Keys, were told to get off the bus. Authorities were called, she was arrested, and held in jail for over 12 hours and paid a $25 fine for disorderly conduct.”

On August 2, Sarah Keys Evans stepped off a Trailways bus at the Union Bus Station at Second and Respess Streets. There she was greeted by her parents who were very concerned and did not know what had happened to her. It was then that she realized the police had lied to her when they said they would call her parents and let them know. At the urging of her father David A. Keys, she hired an attorney and her case was eventually brought before the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), thus marking the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. In Sarah Keys vs Carolina Coach Company the ICC found in favor of her and in 1955 ruled the Interstate Commerce Act forbids segregation on interstate buses. “It is important that we remember this day as it is not that far back in our history,” said Jones. “We have a generation of folks who clearly remember having to sit in the back of the bus, as I was one of them as a child. I can only imagine the courage it must have taken for her to stay in that seat during the Jim Crow era, knowing that virtually anything could have happened to her. She took a stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings.”

This marks the third year that Mayor Donald Sadler has signed a proclamation declaring August 2, Sarah Keys Evans Day in Washington. “It is my honor to sign the proclamation honoring one who sat down to take a stance against racial injustice on interstate transportation. Keys, a Washington native, is an unheralded part of local history. Showing our proper respect and admiration is long overdue.”