N&W in 1911--

[NW Mailing List]

I can remember seeing them moving the passengers to the Jim Crow car while the 
trains were stopped at the Bluefield station and asking my father "why?" He 
explained. The irony was that they had just come through a few miles of Virginia 
(Falls Mills and Bluefield, VA) without having to be in the Jim Crow car. I 
assume that the reserved seats on the Powhatan Arrow made it possible to seat 
passengers so that a move would not be necessary. All this changed in the late 
1950's, of course; but not before the N&W bought their last "two compartment 
coaches." 

     Bluefield was an interesting mix. Schools and theatres were segregated, but 
public transportation was not. Thanks to Gordon for letting me know when the 
legislature declined to segregate public transportation.
     Jim Nichols




________________________________
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: 3N&W Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thu, July 29, 2010 9:39:38 PM
Subject: N&W in 1911--


Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 17, 1911

DONE TO DEATH IN HOUSE OF ITS FRIENDS
------
Weakening at the Critical Moment, Democrats Defeat Jim Crow Bill
    Charleston, W. Va., February 16. (Special)--Weakening at the critical moment 
a majority of the Democratic members of the lower house this afternoon voted 
against the passage of the jim crow car bill, one of the pledges that they made 
during the campaign, and as a result the bill was defeated by a vote of 
forty-five to twenty-nine, the entire Republican representation voting against 
the passage of the bill and thus saving the colored voter of this state from 
being compelled to ride in separate cars.
[The balance of the article was about non-railroad legislative matters and is 
omitted here.]
------
[In those days Virginia had a "Jim Crow" law requiring the separation of the 
races in railway cars in that state, but Ohio and West Virginia did not.  This 
must have caused a problem for the N&W on eastbound trains out of Bluefield 
because the train crews had to see that the races were separated before reaching 
Glen Lyn, VA, just 23 miles east.  This must have caused some resentment among 
those who had been sitting in a mixed race car but were forced to move to a "Jim 
Crow" car at Bluefield.]

Gordon Hamilton
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