Sarah Elizabeth Ray, a civil rights activist based in Detroit, is inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame
Sarah Elizabeth Ray paved the way for change after being thrown from one of the Boblo boats for being black.
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She fought the company in court. Her case went to the Supreme Court, where she won. She later founded Action House, an educational center in east Detroit that helped black youth.
Ray, also known as Lizz Haskell, spoke about the boat incident during a documentary filmed shortly before her death in 2006.
“They came up and said, ‘You have to get off the boat,’ and I said, ‘Why?’ They told me they wouldn’t allow it, I think they called us negroes back then on the boat, “she said.
Now Ray is honored with induction into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.
Their actions paved the way for the desegregation in schools and the bus boycott initiated by Rosa Parks.
“It is important that we honor each of these trailblazers and their widening the path,” said Meaghan Bergman of Michigan Women Forward at the announcement of Ray’s Hall of Fame induction.
Aaron Schillinger is a filmmaker Ray met while making a documentary about the Boblo Boats. He is now a co-founder of the Sarah E. Ray Project. He and others say the introduction is a well-deserved and long overdue acknowledgment.
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