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  • | Illustration

    Work on the Last Mile of the Pacific Railroad—Mingling of European with Asiatic Laborers

    This image from the May 29, 1869 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts laborers of both European and Asian descent working on the final mile of the Pacific Railroad.

  • | Newspaper

    Untitled [Through the action of the separate coach law]

    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.

  • | Newspaper

    Untitled [The railroads of Texas have been harassed]

    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."

  • | Newspaper

    Untitled [Grand Jury of the United States District Court Harrisonburg, Va., has found a bill of indictment]

    The United States District Court at Harrisionburg, Virginia, hands down an indictment against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad for the ejection of Annie Smith.

  • | Book

    Uncle Tom's Cabin

    An excerpt from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

  • | Newspaper

    To The Public

    The plight of African Americans and their abolitionist supporters on New England railroads is addressed in depth in this passionate editorial.

  • | Book

    The Reason Why the Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition

    Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Irvine Garland Penn, Ferdinand L. Barnett, and Frederick Loudin published The Reason Why in response to the exclusion of Afircan Americans and their contributions to American life from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The excerpt included here is part of Wells' contribution and includes the Tennessee separate coach law.

  • | Annual report

    The Mountain Top Track

    This December 1, 1856 report details the high maintenance costs for track running through the Blue Ridge mountains.

  • | Book

    The Marrow of Tradition

    In this excerpt from Charles Chesnutt's novel, the African American doctor protagonist faces the reality of segregation on Southern railroads.

  • | Law

    The Louisiana Railway Accommodations Act

    The Louisiana Railway Accommodations Act mandates "equal but separate" rail travel in the state.

  • | Book

    The Congressional Globe [excerpts]

    In these excerpts from a Senate debate over regulations for a District of Columbia street railroad, many typical arguments for and against public segregation are aired in language that also reveals attitudes towards race and equality as the Civil War continued.

  • | Government report

    Testimony of Major Erasmus L. Wentz, Superintendent of Norfolk and Petersburg R.R

    Major Erasmus L. Wentz, supervising work on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, testifies as to the quality of contraband labor over that of Irish workers. Wentz notes that the contrabands work for less pay.

  • | Legal decision

    Seth E. Beedy Deposition

    Catharine Brown's attorneys deposed two white men who were on the train with Brown and witnessed her expulsion from the cars in Alexandria. Both lived in Maine and were deposed in December 1869. Seth Beedy was traveling with Benjamin Hinds, who knew and recognized "Kate" Brown. Beedy testified, "she was ejected by violence and that alone."

  • | Newspaper

    Rights of Negroes

    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.

  • | Newspaper

    Rev. Mr. Heard's Railroad Case

    The case of Rev. William Heard versus the Georgia Railroad Company is heard before the Interstate Commerce Commission.

  • | Annual report

    Report on the Condition and Prospects of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi

    This report details the financial and material state of the Southern Railroad Company in 1867.

  • | Newspaper

    Rebuke of the Eastern Railroad Company, for their Treatment of Colored Passengers

    Northern railways continued to discriminate against African American passengers and are rebuked in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

  • | Newspaper

    Railroad Corporations

    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.

  • | Legal decision

    Railroad Company v. Brown, 84 U.S. 17 Wall. 445 445 (1873)

    In 1868, Catherine Brown, an African American woman, was ejected from the "ladies car" on the Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown Railroad Company when traveling from Alexandria, Virginia, to the District of Columbia. Brown sued the rail company and the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court - the first case addressing race and public transportation to appear before the Court. Although the legal status of the railroad under Congressional rulings that had applied to earlier iterations of the company became a basis for appeal, the rights of African Americans became the most notable outcome of the Supreme Court's decision for Brown in 1873.

  • | Newspaper

    Race Problem on Railroads

    North Carolina plans for Jim Crow cars draw attention.