Why is it Important to Acknowledge the History of African American Railroad Labor in Western North Carolina?The United States railroads are celebrated infrastructures that first connected the country at large through travel in the 19th century. The Mountain Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad is specifically celebrated largely due to its ingenuity which made the mountains more easily accessible to the rest of the nation, in spite of their complicated terrain. The railroad also led to great economic opportunities for Western North Carolina residents, contributing to the oil, logging, and steel industries. However, the Black men and women who built the Western North Carolina Railroad have been widely ignored in the telling of its history. This is why the African American Experiences in the Smokies (AAES) Project is highlighting the roles that enslaved Africans, African American convicts, and laborers of the 20th century played in building the Western North Carolina Railroad. Enslaved People & the Western North Carolina RailroadThe first railroad track in the United States became active in the 1830s, and the Western North Carolina extension was running from Salisbury to Asheville by the late 1850s. The idea was for the railroad to cut through the mountains from Morganton to Asheville, and further west. Due to the railroad’s construction, there was a very high demand for enslaved laborers during the mid-19th century in Western North Carolina. Nicholas W. Woodfin and James W. Patton were the largest enslavers in Buncombe County, and they contributed to much of Asheville’s railroad construction. Using their own enslaved people, enslaved people that were hired out, and white labor, they headed this portion of the Western North Carolina railroad construction in 1861. This year marks the start of the Civil War, and there is evidence that the high demand for enslaved laborers to work on the railroad continued further into the war. Advertisement for “100 able-bodied negroes” was released by the Western North Carolina Railroad in December of 1861. A similar advertisement for 50 enslaved laborers was released months later in 1862.William H. Thomas of the Cherokee Nation and Augustus S. Merrimon of Asheville also wrote letters to Governor Zebulon B. Vance in 1862 requesting more enslaved labor for the railroads. However, based off of the year’s agriculture, the number of enslaved people available to work the railroads was low. A great portion of the railroad was destroyed in 1864 by General Stoneman of Stoneman’s Raid when he marched through Western North Carolina into Tennessee. Convict Labor and the Western North Carolina Railroad (1875-1892)The South found itself in a poor economic status after the Civil War and worked to rebuild itself financially during the Reconstruction Era. Consequently, the state’s prisons needed employment for its inmates and the Western North Carolina railroad became bankrupt. Some of its previous tracks and tunnels were damaged due to lack of use, inconsistent management, and little available labor during the Civil War. Given the major travel, tourism, and industry that the expansion and completion of the Western North Carolina Railroad would bring, the state found it vital to connect it with rails that led to other southern regions that had profitable markets such as the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. Accustomed to the free labor forces that slavery brought to the South, the Railroad used cheap convict labor to build the railroads. Seven-eighths of the convicts in North Carolina were predominantly Black men and some women, many were imprisoned due to petty crimes and exaggerated charges. Some Black people were even randomly collected off of the street and charged with made up crimes to increase the railroad labor force, as prosecutors were instructed to bring more people into the prison system. The standard sentencing was three years of hard labor. Like enslaved people of the previous decade, many of these convicts were leased to railroad companies and were likely formerly enslaved themselves. Laying railroad tracks, digging tunnels by hand, and working with harmful chemicals were dangerous tasks that resulted in death and permanent injury for many convict laborers. The living conditions that were provided for these men and some women were also dangerous, as they were underfed, improperly clothed, and made to sleep in box cars resulting in disease and starvation. The Railroad Incarcerated Memorial Project (RAIL) is led by Dr. Dan Pierce of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. RAIL aims to uncover and share this history of the Mountain Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad with the public. The Project specifically highlights the tracks at Swannanoa Grade and the seven tunnels that are located between Old Fort and Ridgecrest in Buncombe County across the Blue Ridge Escarpment. This portion of the railroad was built by more than 3,000 convict laborers in the late 1870s, at least 139 of these laborers died and were buried in unmarked graves along the tracks between Old Fort and Ridgecrest. This story connects to the narrative of African American graves that exist in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This railroad was a part of a system that provided access to the Smokies and expanded the markets in places like Asheville and Swannanoa. The Bryson City Race Riots (1907-1908)This little-known historical event was brought to light in recent years, but at the time of its occurrence it was a story that was covered nationwide. The Bryson City Race Riots began at night on Sunday December 29, 1907 at the Southern Railway Station of Swain County. An altercation between white and Black railway workers led to gun fire being exchanged. Five white men were shot and many were injured. A 1908 New York Times article claimed that fifty white men were attacked by Black men in the night. The Raleigh Evening Times claimed on December 31,1907 that “Bad blood has existed between the whites and blacks for some time. The negroes have indulged in the practice of throwing heavy iron railroad spikes and rocks at white men at night. Serious trouble had been momentarily expected and both whites and blacks have been armed for several days. About twenty white men were standing on the platform of the station when a squad of negroes approached, stopped short a distance away, and without further warning began to shoot into the crowd…” While all chaos and violence was blamed on the Black railway workers, there is no information on the root of the “trouble” between the white and Black workers, no information on how many Black people were killed or injured, and no accounts of the event taken from the perspective of Black railway workers, Black rioters, or Black residents of Bryson City. The event at the railway station led to reported riots which lasted for several days, resulting in the implementing of a 9pm curfew for African American residents; those who did not abide by the curfew were arrested. During the riots, at least twelve African Americans were arrested and put in jail. Lawson Howell and Will Trotter were two African American men who were believed to be leaders of the attack at the Railway Station. The two men were arrested without bond shortly after hiding out in the Balsam Mountains. On October 20th, 1908 William Trotter escaped the chain gang that he was placed on as a convict and was captured in Clarksville, NC. According to The Asheville Citizen Times on January 3, 1908, Swain County police wished to transfer Trotter to Buncombe County. The paper stated that “requisition papers” needed to be obtained by the Buncombe County sheriff in order for this to happen. The term requisition refers to the claiming of property, language that mirrors the history of enslavers and slave catchers capturing or claiming rights to an escaped enslaved person. The treatment of a convict as though he or she is property is supported by the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery, but essentially states that slavery is not legal in the United States unless the individual who is enslaved (imprisoned) is being punished for a convicted a crime. The 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865. This is why convict labor and the treatment of convicts, as discussed in the previous section of this brief, are so similar to United States slavery. The newspaper reports of the time make no mention of violent action taken against the Black community and the suspected Black rioters in Bryson City, however one can assume that ‘peaceful’ or just action was not taken. Additionally, the white community and railway workers are victimized in the reports, given that this is who governed the community and the news coming out of the town – the reported events of the riots must be considered with suspicion, as the voices of Black residents are absent from this local story. The Railroad and The Great Migration (Early- Mid 20th centery)
1 According to Trail and Summit, “a thru hike is when you walk the entirety of an established long-distance hiking trail from one distance to another… without leaving the trail for an extended amount of time.” Robert Taylor is the first African American known to thru hike both the Appalachian Trail (AT) and the Pacific Crest Trail. While he found his overall hiking experience enjoyable on the Appalachian Trail, he did encounter constant racism on his journey in the late 1990s. |
Last updated: September 14, 2022