– Photos by S. Hale
by S. Rotan Hale
The Virginia Transportation Museum (VTM) in downtown Roanoke is located in a huge warehouse that was once Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station. It’s a wonderland of classic vehicles, memorabilia, artifacts and exhibits that highlight various modes of transportation and life “back in the day.”
It was a brisk winter day but many still turned out Saturday, Feb. 14 for the museum’s premier of its new exhibit “From Cotton to Silk: African American Railroad Workers of the Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern Railways.”
The exhibit was part of the museum’s Train Lover’s Day celebration and centered around the history of African Americans on the railroad from 1930–1970. It is in collaboration with the African American Norfolk & Western Heritage Group that meets at the museum monthly.
The group was founded in 1997 by Black N&W retirees headed by Al Holland who also named the organization. “We made cotton but we took that cotton and made silk,” said the 97-year-old retiree who emphasizes the significant role of Blacks concerning the railroad industry and the community at large.
As part of the exhibit, a video featured classic scenes of rail-gangs singing in cadence and working to the rhythm while laying the tracks to the country’s railroads. The video also featured members of the Heritage Group telling detailed and colorful stories of life in the segregated ranks of the industry as well as in society itself.
As the industry and the world changed so did Blacks positions with the railroad, as many moved on from jobs as porters, brakemen, dining car workers, etc. to higher paid positions.
“I was an engineer, I’m the one driving that big locomotive,” said John Nutter pointing to one of the many photos that was part of the new exhibit. In the photo, Nutter sat smiling in what’s known as N&W’s Class J 611 and said he had also worked on the Class A 1218, two of the most powerful steam locomotives ever built.
Nutter loves to tell his story as a traveling man who transitioned from driving busses up and down the east coast to trains. He’s an authority willing to brief anyone on the various kinds of bus coaches and a multitude of intricate details about them. Nutter was hired at N&W in 1987 first as a breakman and briefly reflected on his promotion to engineer, “People said I couldn’t run an engine, I said, well they paid me like I could.”
John Meese another retiree left N&W in 2003 after 26 years as a detective. Meese took a moment to reflected on the recent closing of the railroad’s Roanoke administrative offices. “The move is going to hurt a lot of families and the sad part about it is this town is railroad headquarters,” he said with deep concern. “At one time the railroad was Roanoke’s biggest industry…and this museum exemplifies that,” he added.
He told an interesting story of being sent to Mingo County, WV to guard a bridge and a passerby told him of a rumor that the locals were going to “kill one” (Black person). Upon hearing the incident his superior became enraged and denounced the Roanoke dispatchers for sending him to the segregated area. Meese said from that point he only worked daylight for the remainder of the two weeks he spent in Mingo.
One of the highlights of the day was the dedication of Coach 102, a classic yellow and green bus perfectly restored to its original state which is now on exhibit with the first seat dedicated to Roanoke’s own civil rights matriarch Margie Jumper.
Perched on an easel at the front seat is a large plaque that features a picture of Mrs. Jumper, the street car and the bus along with a detailed account of her heroic stand against segregation in 1946. The plaque tells the story of how police were forced to remove Mrs. Jumper from a streetcar after she sat in an area restricted to Whites. The events that gained national attention, happened 9 years before civil rights icon Rosa Parks made her similar and historic mark against segregation in Montgomery, AL.
Roanoke City integrated public transportation in 1963 and the bus is a replica of the one Mrs. Jumper frequently rode after Roanoke terminated streetcar service. Revered as one of Roanoke’s most diligent civil activists, Mrs. Jumper was the recipient of various awards. She passed away in 2007 at 92.
“We are so pleased that we had the support of the African American community and our sponsors to create a moving exhibit that tells this hidden, but important, story,” said Beverly T. Fitzpatrick, Jr., VMT’s executive director. “From Cotton to Silk” is one of the few exhibits in the country that tells this part of the area’s history.”
The museum is located at 303 Norfolk Ave. in downtown and is open Monday-Saturday:10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
