© 2006–2017
All Rights Reserved
William G. Thomas
Copyright Statement
1901 | Pamphlet
Meant as a primer for African American voters, this short volume includes a brief interview with William Jennings Bryan, followed by a comment on Jim Crow cars.
August 4, 1900 | Newspaper
The restrictions of Jim Crow laws are tested by Virginia's Pamunkey Indians.
December 18, 1898 | Newspaper
North Carolina plans for Jim Crow cars draw attention.
April 5, 1893 | Newspaper
The decision for Maime Caldwell in her case against the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad Company for discrimination is briefly recounted, noting the final award of $800.
September 3, 1891 | Newspaper
A reponse from the Southern Pacific following an Interstate Commerce Commission ruling that African Americans making trips crossing state lines could not be ejected from first-class cars.
January 5, 1889 | Newspaper
A correspondent of the New York Age reports on an Atlanta Evening Journal article recounting the expulsion of Reverend T. H. Lee from a Georgia Railroad Company coach.
December 18, 1888 | Newspaper
The ejection of Reverend H. F. Lee from a Georgia railcar is reported.
December 24, 1887 | Newspaper
The case of Rev. William Heard versus the Georgia Railroad Company is heard before the Interstate Commerce Commission.
September 10, 1886 | Newspaper
The plight of three African American passengers on a Georgia railcar is recounted in this reprint from the Macon Telegraph.
September 29, 1883 | Newspaper
A brief editorial statement about the conditions on Texas railroads and the lack of equal accomodations for African Americans and the need for a continued struggle against "American intolerance."
March 26, 1883 | Newspaper
The plight of middle- and upper-class African Americans on Georgia railways and in public accommodations is briefly addressed in this report from Savannah, Georgia.
April 21, 1877 | Newspaper
The ejection of a party of Alabama African American men and women from a first class car on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad is recounted in this letter from William Jenkins of Tuskeegee, Alabama.
May 20, 1875 | Newspaper
The United States District Court at Harrisionburg, Virginia, hands down an indictment against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad for the ejection of Annie Smith.
November 18, 1873 | Newspaper
The New York Times reported on its front page the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Catharine Brown's case. The case aroused Republicans to reconsider the intent and purpose of the Congress in the midst of the Civil War because it turned on the railroad's Congressional charter from 1863 which clearly barred any discrimination on the basis of race or color. The railroad's main argument before the Supreme Court rested first on the idea that separate cars were customary, locally sanctioned, and equally accommodated, and second on the specious reasoning that because they carried colored passengers they had not violated the Congressional charter--colored persons were carried, just in a different car. The spirit of the Congress in 1863, the Court decided, suggested otherwise. The decision, however significant and newsworthy, was sorely limited in its application. Only a handful of railroads in the District of Columbia possessed such language in their originating charters.
November 6, 1841 | Newspaper
The plight of African Americans and their abolitionist supporters on New England railroads is addressed in depth in this passionate editorial.
April 2, 1841 | Newspaper
The maltreatment of African Americans by New England rail companies acting as "epidermis-aristocrats" draws an abolitionist's wrath as a Southerner weighs in on the merits of Southern rail travel.
March 19, 1841 | Newspaper
Northern railways continued to discriminate against African American passengers and are rebuked in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
October 16, 1864 | Letter
Labor bosses ask Adna Anderson to pressure the Quarter Master to approve the sale of winter clothing to contrabands.
September 13, 1864 | Letter
J. M. Nash requests a guard to ensure that the African American engineer at the Lavergne station is not harassed or his work interfered with.
February 20, 1864 | Letter
E. Benjamin requests passes for black workers so that they may avoid impressment.
© 2006–2017
All Rights Reserved
William G. Thomas
Copyright Statement