Passenger Trains > This One Is For Emmett Till

Amtrak's City of New Orleans rolls through Money, Mississippi, which was thrust into the spotlight in 1955 when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black kid from Chicago who was visiting relatives, defied Jim Crow and whistled at white storekeeper Carolyn Bryant.

Till was later kidnapped and murdered by the storekeeper's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam.

The remains of the store where Till's transgression took place, the Bryant Grocery and Meat Market, stands in the background, surrounded by orange fencing and overgrown with a collapsed roof. A roadside marker reminds visitors of what transpired there.

---

Many Pullman porters and others risked their lives to bring copies of "northern" newspapers to people living in post slavery conditions. They would throw copies of the Pittsburgh Defender, Amsterdam News and other papers to people waiting for real news.

You could lose your job for throwing papers..

Posted from Android

When I first started working in Amtrak's On Board Services out of the Oakland Crew Base in the early seventies I worked with an African-American Steward (a real dining car steward not an Employee In Charge) by the name of Aaron Morris (not sure of the last name).

He recounted a story of his earlier days as a dining car waiter for SP on the Sunset Limited. According to Aaron as the train was passing through the Deep South (Louisiana I'm thinking) one of the local unreconstructed drunken white southern bigots with powerful political connections entered the diner, sat down and started in on Aaron with loud racist comments and demeaning jokes. As Aaron passed by with a tray the redneck stuck his foot out and tripped Aaron causing him to fall, drop the tray and it's contents.

Enraged, Aaron stood up went into the pantry got a pitcher full of hot coffee and proceeded down the aisle toward the bigot saying "Yess ssir boss, yo sure is right. I so clumsy. Ain't no telling where I might drop this here hot coffee!" Sure enough as he approached his tormentor he "stumbled" spilling hot coffee all over the man's white linen suit. 

A short time later the conductor advised Aaron the the bigot had telegraphed ahead not just for a local sheriff but also a posse (in the deep south of course in those days a "posse" meant a KKK lynch mob). As the train approached the station Aaron looked ahead and did indeed see a mob of white angry men replete with nooses waving. Aaron was smart enough to jump off the train before it stopped and onto a passing freight. Fortunately he was able to make his escape and ended up in Chicago, then Oakland where he finished his railroad career. He had to be careful not to bid on any jobs that would take him thru Louisiana.

John Webb
Trinidad, CA

Dixie hasn't changed much, but they hide it better now.

NormSchultze Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dixie hasn't changed much, but they hide it better
> now.


Norm is one of of the modern bigots:  Ignorant,stereotyping liberals and their lying, internet lynching attempts of any area that votes conservative.  Politics is his real motive.  Nevermind that the south is the most integrated part of the country, and the Northeast the most segregated.

My goodness.  As a white person, after reading this thread I now feel that my "white priviledge" has left me so guilt-ridden that I must participate in reparations to atone for my sins.  

http://www.king5.com/news/local/seattle-artist-launches-reparations-website/277184384

http://www.reparations.me/

** sarcasm key now disengaged **



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 13:18 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

Well darkcloud, I do live in Dixie, have for most of my 76 years. Not a liberal either, middle of the road. But ya just can't deny that Dixie isn't progressive and has attempted to hold on to the old ways far longer than they should have.
And yes, thats my real name....and yours is ??

Thank you for this post.  Some people may have sarcastic views on this page, however it is still a problem in this country. 

Yes it is, on both sides of the fence. While in the South on the American Freedom Train, it was still quite apparent. Some of us wandered around cities where we were looked upon as crazy. We saw quite a few businesses still holding on to the 2 door policy, even in 76. It doesn't matter if you're democrat of republican, there are still some stuck in the past, and some who try to get ahead by spewing fear, hate and discontent. 

ClipX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you for this post.  Some people may have
> sarcastic views on this page, however it is still
> a problem in this country. 

Change is always happening.

You can try to take charge, or resist it, or get out of the way.  But it's going to happen...

The South is not monolithic. There are progressive areas, and there are areas stuck in the past. What you experience depends largely on where you go. In some Southern cities it's getting difficult to find native Southerners because of influx from the North, Midwest, West, and overseas. In other areas, particularly the rural areas that are depopulating, attitudes and practices haven't changed much. But even there, you find the occasional Atticus Finch and I believe there are more of them, if still a minority, than 50 years ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 20:09 by ctillnc.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Change is always happening.
>
> You can try to take charge, or resist it, or get
> out of the way.  But it's going to happen...

A voice of reason....thank you.  And why don't we stick to trains on Trainorders?

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes it is, on both sides of the fence. While in
> the South on the American Freedom Train, it was
> still quite apparent. Some of us wandered around
> cities where we were looked upon as crazy. We saw
> quite a few businesses still holding on to the 2
> door policy, even in 76. It doesn't matter if
> you're democrat of republican, there are still
> some stuck in the past, and some who try to get
> ahead by spewing fear, hate and discontent. 
>
> ClipX Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thank you for this post.  Some people may have
> > sarcastic views on this page, however it is
> still
> > a problem in this country. 

​SP4360, you forget that a 13 year child was lynched!!  Enough with the BS on both sides.  Any child experienced that type of violence and no follow up for justice is a moral sin!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/16 09:59 by ClipX.

ClipX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> ​SP4360, you forget that a 13 year child was
> lynched!!  Enough with the BS on both sides. 
> Any child experienced that type of violence and no
> follow up for justice is a moral sin!!!

I am fully aware of what happened, didn't need to repeat it. And further more, the BS is on both sides of the fence.