Miriam Thaggert illuminates the stories of African American women as
passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century
railroad. As Jim Crow laws became more prevalent and forced Black
Americans to "ride Jim Crow" on the rails, the train compartment became
a contested space of leisure and work. Riding Jane Crow examines four
instances of Black female railroad travel: the travel narratives of
Black female intellectuals such as Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church
Terrell; Black middle-class women who sued to ride in first class
"ladies' cars"; Black women railroad food vendors; and Black maids on
Pullman trains. Thaggert argues that the railroad represented a
technological advancement that was entwined with African American
attempts to secure social progress. Black women's experiences on or near
the railroad illustrate how American technological progress has often
meant their ejection or displacement; thus, it is the Black woman who
most fully measures the success of American freedom and privilege, or
"progress," through her travel experiences.