J. C. (John Clay) Coleman

Born in Mississippi in 1876, John Clay Coleman was an African American minister, theologian, and writer who later worked in Canada as well as the United States. He was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and became known not only for his religious work but also for speaking plainly about racism and the treatment of Black travelers in the segregated South.

Coleman is best remembered for The Jim Crow Car; Or, Denouncement of Injustice Meted Out to the Black Race, first published in 1898. In it, he protested the everyday humiliations and dangers created by segregation, using direct, personal language that still feels urgent. The book stands out as both a historical document and an early work of Black resistance writing.

He died in 1911, but his writing remains important for readers interested in the history of civil rights, Black protest literature, and the personal realities behind Jim Crow laws.