Railroads in the African American Experience: A Photographic Journey (review)

"For more than 100 years the railroads were linked to blacks' quest for a better life, a better job, a better status. At times, railroads represented hope. Occasionally, they bestowed opportunity. Frequently, they offered only escape. Until recently, they brought exploitation and racism" (508). Thus does Theodore Kornweibel close his monumental Railroads in the African American Experience, which covers the intersection of black and railroad history from the time of slavery to the present day. Unlike many railroad historians, Kornweibel never loses himself in the minutiae of railroad operations, retaining the larger social context in which railroads were built and operated, with an eye to the systematic exploitation of African Americans by railroad companies. This book also provides an extensive pictorial record of black railroad history through the nearly 200 images that accompany the text, everything from pictures of early convict labor to cartoons in company magazines, many from the author's own private collection.

Railroads in the African American Experience consists of sixteen interrelated chapters covering individual aspects of railroad history. The book opens by examining slavery and southern railroading, pulling from personal narratives as well as official documentation such as reports to stockholders to provide the full picture of brutality twinned with merciless profitability. Other chapters focus upon particular jobs most frequently associated with African Americans: track laborers, firemen, brakemen and switchmen, porters (with Pullman porters constituting their own chapter), dining-car clerks, waiters, and red caps. Kornweibel expertly details how, time and time again, white-run unions sought to push African Americans to the margins of railroad work or bar them from more respected jobs altogether; in addition, grueling and dangers jobs such as fireman and brakeman were often reserved for black workers until technological advances made them amenable enough for whites, who then tried to exclude their black predecessors from these positions. In many cases, by the modern civil rights era, when courts finally struck down racially regressive union or company rules, railroads were scaling back their operations, making the victory symbolically important but rather empty in terms of real-world employment.

Alongside these examinations of particular roles are chapters on how railroads facilitated the Great Migration; railroad imagery in African American music, literature, and art; black female railroaders; and Jim Crow laws. As the author points out, "Train travel allowed more extensive mingling of the races in public space than ever before" (265); this inspired new segregation initiatives, which, in turn, made the railroad the battleground of human rights struggles long before Rosa Parks. In addition, the author also presents a study of how railroad companies' portrayal of black workers in advertisements and cartoons evolved through time, even though it relied primarily upon tired racist caricatures.

As authoritative as this book is, it does overlook important aspects of the black railroad experience, such as "sundown towns"—places in which African Americans were forbidden to reside or work—across vast stretches of the United States. In the Ouachita and Ozark mountains of Arkansas, for example, black railroad laborers working outside the protection of company towns often risked violence from white residents who had long since expelled any local African Americans. Related to this, there is little information in Kornweibel's book on the role of railroads in resource extraction (timber, coal, et cetera), which provided an impetus for black migration into previously non-diverse corners of the country. Too, the index lacks entries for particular states and cities, making it difficult to seek geographically specific information.

These problems aside, Kornweibel sets the standard for exploring black railroad history, producing a book welcome to both the railroad enthusiast and the student of American race relations. This handsome volume will certainly inspire valuable historical research on the subject in the years to come.