I am trying to locate information about the history of segregated ticket booths, cars, waiting rooms, sleeping berths, etc, in Forida, esp. in the Tampa Bay and St Petersburg areas. I esp. am interested in photos, primary sources, oral histories, and referrals to archives, bibliographies, articles, etc. Any information gladly recieved and appreciated. Particularly interested in timeline of specific kinds of segregation, when and where they appeared and faded, how they were enforced or not enforced. Also interested in information on Pullman Porters in florida esp tampa bay and st petersburg area. Thank you very much for your time, Patricia

-- Patricia Pettijohn (pettijoh@nelson.usf.edu), April 04, 1999

Answers

Just wanted to thank both respondents for their valuable leads.

-- Patricia Pettijohn (pettijoh@nelson.usf.edu), April 21, 1999.

You should look at pages 82-83 of Joe Welsh's excellent book: By Streamliner, New York to Florida. It discusses segregation issues in NY-FL passenger trains and dining cars. He also references certain court cases that began the dismantling of the "Jim Crow" laws then in place in the South. Good luck with your research. Buddy Hill (no emails please)

-- Buddy Hill (FandR65@aol.com), April 17, 1999.

Tampa Union Station had 2 waiting rooms as did all medium to large train stations South of the Mason-Dixon Line. Each entry had a sign over the door that designated the entrance as "White" or "Colored". I have the art work for these signs that accompanied some Seaboard Air Line station drawings I own. Ticket offices were built in the middle of the station so the agent could serve both sides. Passenger trains traveling South of the Mason-Dixon Line would have a passenger/baggage combination car following immediately behind the engine. The car was half baggage and half passenger and were referred to as a P&B. These P&B's were for the black passengers in order to comply with the Jim Crow Law. To the best of my knowlege, black passengers were not allowed in the dining car, and could not occupy a room or berth in the pullman car. The book "Dinner in the Diner" has an excellent story on the hiring pratices for black porters working in the dining car.

-- Carey Stevens (cstevens@webzone.net), April 15, 1999.