Friday, February 15, 2013

"Robert" the Axeman

Finding the first African-Americans in B&O records is extremely difficult. Race or sex of an employee was normally not recorded on the early employee lists and some employees are listed only by their initials. One of the earliest records of African Americans working on the B&O occurs in the 1842 list of employees. "Robert" appears on employment records noted in parentheses (colored) with no last name listed. He worked as an Axeman making 75 cents/day for the Engineering Department.

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