Separate But not Equal African Americans in Abilene: At the start of the Twentieth Century, Abilene had a small minority population. In 1900, Abilene’s twelfth census declared that the community had 171 African Americans. However, John L. Stephenson determined Abilene had a population of 368 blacks, representing five percent of the total population in 1905. While Blacks represented only a fraction of the community, they still signify an important part of Abilene’s story.
Segregated Communities: Train depots are one of the many ways in which black citizens faced segregation in Texas and the South. After the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, Jim Crow Laws became a standard throughout the South. A conductor arrested Homer Plessy for entering a “white only” traincar, even though Plessy was only one-eighth African American. The Supreme Court upheld Plessy’s arrest in 1896, based on the separate but equal doctrine. The doctrine not only led to African American’s facing inequalities through separate train cars, but also separate water fountains,segregated restaurants, and other public facilities. Many of the railroads in the early Twentieth Century were the height of luxury, but the political conditions after the Civil War led to the segregation of train cars along both class and racial lines. Race also played a role on the occupational side of the tracks. Employers usually hired African Americans as porters and cooks; one would rarely see Blacks as conductors.
Plessy V. Ferguson Brief, Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Role of the Railroad Commission:
“If a white officer was transporting a black prisoner, which car should they travel in, the one for whites or the one for blacks?” – Texas Sheriff
As early as 1891, Texas developed a law that forced African Americans to be in separate train cars by partitions, but not in separate waiting rooms. The Texas Regulatory Commission played a large role in creating segregated train depots; the commission tried to pass ordinances that required separate waiting rooms for blacks. Companies wanted to avoid these ordinances because African Americans refused to go to train depots with segregated cars, and it often discouraged their ridership. Added complaints from train riders created more pressures for the Regulatory Commission to form separate waiting rooms. However, the Texas legislature did not require separate waiting rooms until 1909.
Atchison, Topeka, and Sata Fe Sefregated Train Depot, Photo Courtesy of: Texas History Portal
Railroads and train cars exemplified the changing social conditions in the Twentieth Century. The precedent set by Plessy v. Ferguson challenged relations throughout Texas and the South. Not until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, did the Supreme Court overturn the separate but equal doctrine. However, as a society, we are still fighting the effects of Jim Crow’s various civil injustices today.