Women of the Wheel: Caroline Lecount

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Caroline LeCount (c. 1846-1923) was a teacher and civil rights activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who successfully fought to desegregate the city's streetcars.

For Further Reading:

This month, we're talking about Women of the Wheel – icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates and potter's wheels. These women harnessed the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:07.4	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:12.1	This month, we're talking about women of the wheel.
0:15.0	Icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates, and
0:19.6	potter's wheels.
0:21.6	These women harness the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.
0:29.6	Public transportation has long been a site of civic demonstration.
0:33.6	Figures like Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin in the 1950s demonstrated their rights by refusing to give up their seats.
0:41.1	And almost a century before Parks and Colvin, a different woman led the fight towards desegregation on the trolley lines of Philadelphia.
0:49.0	Please meet Caroline LeCount.
0:52.3	Caroline LeCount was born in South Philadelphia around 1946.
0:56.0	Her parents' values set the foundation for what would be a civically engaged life.
1:01.0	Her father, a cabinetmaker and carpenter, was active in the Underground Railroad
1:06.0	and would often hide runaway slaves and coffins in their basement.
1:16.7	In 1863, Caroline graduated at the top of her class from the Institute for Colored Youth,
1:19.4	the nation's first college for Black Americans.
1:26.4	It was there she met her future fiancé Octavius Caddo, a fellow educator and civil rights activist. After graduation in 1865, Caroline began teaching at the
1:31.6	Ohio Street School, and by 1868, she became the principal. Caroline worked there for nearly 50 years,
1:40.0	advocating for racial reform for black students and teachers in the Philadelphia school system.
1:45.6	Her civic impact was also felt outside the classroom.
1:49.9	Caroline was not only a teacher during the Civil War, but also an officer in the Ladies
1:54.2	Union Association, a group that organized fares and supply collections to aid the first ever
	...

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