"Negroes will do more work" : slavery and the dawn of Southern railroading -- "A steel driving man" : construction and track laborers -- "With his strong arm and a shovel" : African American locomotive firemen -- "A lesson to all nigger brakemen" : black trainmen fight for survival -- "The world's most perfect servant" : the pullman porters' struggle for dignity -- "To represent the best in colored" : train porters, porter-brakemen, railroad ferry, and steamship porters, and RPO clerks -- "Capable of working in any fine restaurant" : dining car cooks and waiters -- "A gracious and obliging gentleman" : red caps and other station personnel -- "Too d--- much for a negro to have" : in the shops, freight houses, and offices -- "Not at all proper for women" : black female railroaders -- "One big happy family" : the communal life of black railroaders -- "Nobody ride but de chocolate to de bone" : Jim Crow segregation -- Farewell : "we're good and gone" : the railroads and black migration -- "A little black train a-comin'" : railroads in African American music -- "I pick up my life and take it on the train" : railroads in black art and literature -- "He knows his place" : railroads and race.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.