On September 28, 1841, noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass and James N. Buffum (later mayor of Lynn) were forcibly ejected from a train at Lynn station after Douglass refused to sit in the segregated "Jim Crow car" in an early protest against the racial discrimination by the railroad. Fearing additional incidents, railroad superintendent Stephen A. Chase ordered that trains not stop at Lynn for several days. The actions by Douglass sparked further protests in Massachusetts against the discriminatory policies of the Eastern and other railroads.