A Different View: Windows Into Black History on the Railroad

By Makea King

Two African American men work on railroad construction while a White man watches. The image was taken in the early 1860s during the building of Civil War railway construction.¹

You’re never too old to learn something new, right? I was in elementary school when I learned about Chinese immigrants building the Transcontinental Railroad. It went right along with the classroom lesson that revolved around the California Gold Rush and the promise of a bright, new country emerging in the West. After learning about Chinese immigrants working on the Transcontinental Railroad, I assumed that that was the end of the story. The immigrants built the railroad and connected the two coasts and everyone lived happily ever after. This is generally the point in the story when the narrator steps in to do a voiceover to let you know that actually, everyone did not live happily ever after.

In learning this lesson, I inadvertently failed to learn another lesson. I was 36 years old when I learned that enslaved Blacks were forced to lay the entirety of the southern railroad system.¹ The railroad companies would either have their own enslaved workers for the railroad or they would lease them from nearby plantations. During the Civil War, the enslaved who could escape to the Union army would act as spies and offer counterintelligence on Confederate railroad locations and army camps. This would allow Union troops to sabotage rail ties and launch sneak attacks². Who wouldn’t want to learn about this during history class? However, despite this enormous contribution to the Union army’s victory, most Union commanders commonly referred to the self-emancipated Blacks as “contraband”, which diminished their value and importance.

 

A group of railroad construction workers is gathered around railroad tracks on construction site in Virginia.²

 After the end of the Civil War and the subsequent Emancipation Proclamation declaration, the jobs available for the formerly enslaved often meant staying on the plantations and farms, working as sharecroppers. Those who sought to move on beyond that lifestyle gained employment with various railroad companies as brakemen, porters, maids, and cooks. Formerly enslaved women and men gained steady wages by working with railroad companies, however, there were limited avenues of promotion available to them. In the late 19th century, George Pullman established the Pullman Company, which operated a line of train sleeper cars, staffed by Pullman Porters and Maids. These employees served the White middle-class train passengers and provided them a sense of luxury while traveling via rail. Pullman Porters cooked their food, made their drinks, cleaned, and prepared their sleeping quarters, while the Pullman Maids watched the children, bathed, dressed, and even styled the hair of the women riding the train.³

A train passenger sits in a booth across from an African American woman employed as a Pullman Maid. The passenger seems to be getting her nails done. This was among the few beauty services Pullman Maids provided to train car passengers.³

While the promise of a stable job and consistent wage drew many to working on the railroads, many formerly enslaved Blacks were simply eager to enjoy the freedom of train travel. However, despite the end of the Civil War and the fall of the Confederacy, Black people were still forced to walk a narrow line in American society. In 1866, a man named Aaron Bradley simply wanted to travel on the B&O Railroad. Bradley believed that his ticket allowed him to sit wherever he desired, yet he was quickly escorted out of the passenger car that held only White passengers to a train car with only Black passengers. Bradley argued that his ticket did not specify which train car he could ride in, and thus afforded him a seat wherever he deemed fit. Bradley would later sue the B&O Railroad for $100, but he would ultimately lose, despite the legitimacy of his case and his occupation as a lawyer.⁴ 

Throughout the Jim Crow Era and the brief period of Reconstruction, Black Baltimorians used the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to push forward new civil liberties for emancipated Blacks. The Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, established in 1885 by Pastor Harvey Johnson and others working within the church ministry, worked to elevate the livelihood of Blacks in Maryland and the United States as a whole. With the B&O Railroad in their figurative backyard, the MUBL was able to challenge segregation laws in transportation, education, and the government.⁵

Well after the Civil War, Black women joined White women as railroad workers to replace their male counterparts as World War I and World War II reshaped the globe.⁶ Although many women went back to their households after the wars ended, many did not. The spark of independence was not easily diminished and the learned skills and trades made available at railroad companies proved to be an avenue that allowed women to earn their own wages. 

Three African American women clean a locomotive. Left to right: Florence Rancher, Ann Rancher, and Ila Young.⁴

The land that the B&O Railroad occupies is rich with the stories, collective histories, and hopes and inspirations of the many generations who have come before us. The fortitude of mind that the self-emancipated enslaved had in order to escape and go on to work with the Union army to secure their freedom is directly tied to the cultural significance of railroads and their place in Black history. It is no coincidence that the name for the network of abolitionists that helped the enslaved escape is called the Underground Railroad. Regardless of it being underground, or surface level, the railroad has always been a symbol of freedom and a path to opportunity.

Four African American men are pictured in cook’s uniforms in a train kitchen car. Obtaining employment on a train as a cook was viewed as a steady and reliable form of employment.⁵

About the Author: Makea King is an experienced marketing and communications professional, currently working in higher education. She is completing her internship at the B&O Railroad Museum working on an oral history collection of African Americans and the railroad system. She is set to graduate with her MLIS degree at the conclusion of the Fall 2020 semester. 

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References

1: Cavanaugh, Maureen, and Pat Finn. “The African-American Railroad Experience.” KPBS Public Media, KPBS, 23 Mar. 2010, www.kpbs.org/news/2010/mar/23/african-american-railroad-experience/.

 2: Blouin, Lily Anna. “The Civil War and African American Railroaders: Part 1 of 2.” Nrrhof, Railroad History | National Railroad Hall of Fame | Galesburg, 12 Nov. 2018, www.nrrhof.org/single-post/2017/11/10/The-Civil-War-and-African-American-Railroaders-Part-1-of-2.

3: “Pullman Porter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_porter.

4:“African Americans Struggle to Define Freedom on the Border.” A Brotherhood of Liberty: Black Reconstruction and Its Legacies in Baltimore, 1865-1920, by Dennis Patrick Halpin, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019, pp. 18–19.

5: “Rev. Dr. Harvey Johnson: the Preacher & 19th Century Activism.” Black Baltimore 1870-1920, Harvey Johnson, Maryland State Archives, Maryland State Archives, 3 Feb. 1998, msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/6050/html/12414000.html.

6: Lily Anna Blouin, Mae Gilliland Wright. “African American Women and the Railroads.” Nrrhof, Railroad History | National Railroad Hall of Fame | Galesburg, 30 Nov. 2017, www.nrrhof.org/single-post/2017/11/30/African-American-Women-and-the-Railroads.

 

Image References

 

1: United States Army. Military Railway Service, Russell, A. J., photographer. (ca. 1862) Two Railroad Construction Workers Hammer Track as Third Construction Worker Watches. United States, ca. 1862. [or 1863] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006676186/.

2: United States Army. Military Railway Service, Russell, A. J., photographer. (ca. 1862) Railroad Construction Workers. United States, ca. 1862. [or 1863] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006676183/.

3: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Public Relations Department. (ca. 1925). P1.6.2.6.7-001. Pullman maid serving white passenger on the B&O Railroad's Capitol Limited Line. General Photograph Collection, Hays T. Watkins Research Library, B&O Railroad Museum.

4: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Public Relations Department. (1940). P1.6.2.1.7-023. African American women work crew cleans locomotive in Ivorydale, Ohio. Left to right: Florence Rancher, Ann Rancher, and Ila Young. General Photograph Collection, Hays T. Watkins Research Library, B&O Railroad Museum. 

5: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Public Relations Department. (ca. 1930). P1.6.2.5.1.1-027. African American cooks as part of a dining services crew. General Photograph Collection, Hays T. Wakins Research Library, B&O Railroad Museum. 

 

Moving Troops in World War II

At the start of World War II, the railroads were still king of the castle in the transportation game. Airplanes were around but no major airlines existed to move passengers. Most planes were still only single or double seated with only a few larger aircraft. The country would have to rely on the railroads to help them win the war. They handled 90% of domestic military supply and 97% of domestic troop movements during the war years which totals about one million troops a month. Every possible car was pressed into service because of rationing only limited numbers of new cars were built.

What new cars were built were designed and authorized by the Defense Plant Corporation run by the U.S. Government. The DPC authorized the Pullman Car Company to build 2,500 sleeper cars for use on troop trains. Though the cars were owned by the government, they were operated by Pullman which insisted that Pullman porters were placed on every car. Another 400 kitchen cars were also built to feed the troops on the trains.

The Pullman Troop Sleeper car in our collection is numbered 7437 and was built in May 1944. After the war, most of the cars were sold as surplus. 7437 was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway and converted for use on their wreck train in Elkins, West Virginia. It was retired in 1988 when it was donated to the museum. In 1995 it was restored to its original exterior colors and lettering and the interior was partially restored to show what it looked like while in service. The exterior was refinished again in 2004 and a display on the B&O during World War II was added.

The 7437 is on display and open every day at the museum. Join us November 12 and 13 for our observance of Veterans Day when we will have many displays and programs about World War II. There will be Jeeps, displays on the railroad during the war, and equipment displays about Army, Marine, and Coast Guard.

World War II Instructional Document Acquired

An interesting document has made its way in to the museum library titled “Orientation Talk for Incoming Replacements” and gives a glimpse of the life of American Soldiers on their way to fight in Europe during World War II. Although there is no date on the document it appears to have been used in the winter 1945. The statement was read to soldiers on board transport ships before docking at Le Havre, France which was one of the larger ports used by the Allies. In the document, it gives the incoming soldiers an idea of what the conditions of the railroads are and how to stay out of trouble.

 First, an understanding of the replacement system the Army used in World War II is helpful to understand the men that are in these ships. At the beginning of the war, the Generals thought it would be better to replace casualties with individual soldiers and they could learn from the veterans in the units they were sent. Replacement Depots were set up in Europe and when a unit needed replacements, a group was sent to that unit. The problem was the replacements were not liked by the older men and were shunned and some never really belonged to the unit. The replacements also had no sense of camaraderie or history of that unit. It was not a good system. Many thought it would be better to replace whole units at a time since they would have trained together and become a cohesive unit. Unfortunately, the Generals stuck with the replacement system and most units suffered from low morale and bad performance because of it.

40 and 8

The announcement starts with a welcome to the European Theater and letting them know where they were headed. They then described the trains and railroads they’d be traveling on. Soldiers would be housed in wooden boxcars called “40 and 8’s” which were French rail cars that could hold 40 men or 8 horses. These had been around since before World War I. You can see an example of a 40 and 8 in the Museum’s Roundhouse. They were told there would only be 18 to 25 men in a car and would be provided a stove for heat and cooking and also extra blankets. There would be rations in the cars and they would get fresh hot meals at wayside stops.

 Next was a paragraph on the dangers of the black marketers in Europe. All American money was being collected from them and would be given back later. All kinds of goods from food to cigarettes were being stolen and resold at higher prices. They were warned that “Every MP in Europe is watching for black marketers. Don’t take a chance.”

          And the last was a health warning. The men were encouraged to take care of their feet in the cold European winter. They were asked to take off their boots at night and to massage there feet to keep blood flowing to the feet. Many men got frostbite by not paying attention to their feet.

         
It is amazing that this document has survived 60+ years in such a great condition. I’d love to know its story too. Did the radio operator on board save it? Did someone grab it before the shop was decommissioned? That is what makes history so enjoyable. You never know what is around the corner or in your library.

Travis Harry

Director of Operations and Volunteers

Pullman Helps the War Effort

At the beginning of World War II, the B&O Railroad, along with the rest of the nation’s railroads, were not prepared for the massive amount of personnel and material that was to be transported across the country. Of troop movements in the US, 97 percent were handled by the railroads with an average of 1 million troops moved per month. As a result, the United States Government ordered 2,400 Troop Sleepers from the Pullman Company to help prevent overcrowding on regular train service. These cars were fashioned from existing boxcars or were built new based on standard steel boxcar design. Interiors were fitted with 30 bunks, each with two coat hangers and a rifle rack. The bunks were stacked three high and the middle bunk could be lowered to help create a seat for daytime travel. Each car also had drinking water as well as sinks and toilets. The Pullman Company insisted that each car have a porter just like regular Pullman cars in service on the railroads. One bunk was closed off just for the use of the porter.

After the War, the troop sleepers were sold as surplus and were bought by many different railroads. Our Troop Sleeper #7437 was sold to the Western Maryland Railroad which refitted and used the car as part of the wreck train, a special train designed to respond to derailments and wrecks used in Elkins, WV. After the Western Maryland Railway was merged into the Chessie System in the early 1970s the car was declared surplus once again. In 1988 the Troop Sleeper was donated to the Museum and, following its restoration, is exhibited with half of its interior restored to its WWII appearance. The other half of the car was left as modified by the Western Maryland Railway and now contains an exhibit on the B&O in WWII.

Travis Harry
Assistant Curator of Operations