Riding Jane Crow
African American Women on the American Railroad

American Women, especially American Black Women had a very strong role in the history both as passengers and workers on the American railroad during the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries. One of the things that really caught my attention is how some women had to dress as men in order to rid......more

This book was a revelation in so many ways. I know little about the American railroad and it gave me a real feel for the way trains and rail travel worked in the latter part of the 19th and early 29th century. I’d never thought of journeys in the context of how space is occupied and the effect that......more

Miriam Thaggert takes a scholarly approach in her new book Riding Jane Crow which deals with the mobility of black women on the American railways. She borrowed the coined phrase Jane Crow from Pauli Murray, a woman who often disguised herself as a boy while catching freights trains and enjoying her......more

Probably my favorite part is the chapter on the waiter carriers of Gordonsville, Va. It reminded me of a train trip I took - in third class - from Cairo to Luxor, Egypt. This was not the more expensive express train; it was the one used by locals who needed stops in each and every village. At each s......more

"Riding Jane Crow" by Miriam Thaggert is a unique book, in that it covers a topic that doesn't get much attention. Thaggert's goal is to present to the reader a window into the world of African American women, and their experiences on the rails during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Jim Crow was......more