African American Stories on the Railway

The Coastal Heritage Society Manager of Interpretation, Emily Beck, will examine African American stories specific to the Central of Georgia Railway in the city of Savannah. Highlighting individual workers such as John Wesley Whitaker, the Central railroad’s first African American locomotive engineer, and using primary source materials such as historic site photographs, and related artifacts, this lecture will give program participants an overview of the history of African Americans working for the Central from railroad’s inception in the 1830s through the Civil Rights era.

Funded project of the South Carolina Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.