The California State Railroad Museum is proud to present \u201cBlack & African American Railroad Experience: A Work in Progress, Building The Exhibit Together\u201d on display now in the museum lobby. Curated in collaboration with the African American Experience Committee, this compelling exhibit is part of a community building engagement project designed to gather data, input, and stories for a future Black and African American exhibit that, once completed, will be on permanent display in the museum.<\/p>\n
Following an overarching \u201cOur Lives are Made of Railroad Stories\u201d focus, the Railroad Museum is committed to incorporating the full diversity of perspectives and experiences in the museum.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresentation matters,\u201d said Dr. Ty Smith, Museum Director of the California State Railroad Museum. \u201cThrough collaboration and co-creation, we want to ensure the stories of individuals, families, and communities enrich our understanding of history and inform our lives and futures. The Committee is actively and intentionally gathering personal stories, objects, photos, and collections in an effort to build future permanent exhibits that will convey the richness of Black and African American Experiences, which lie at the very heart of American Railroading.\u201d<\/p>\n
The temporary exhibit highlights topics, stories and themes that are part of the museum\u2019s impressive collection but is also calling out for the community to share insight into areas of focus for which more information is sought.<\/p>\n
Outlined below are a few examples of individuals and elements highlighted in the exhibit:<\/p>\n
A. Phillip Randolph \u2013 writer, magazine publisher, and activist who urged African Americans to resist being drafted into WWI.The Ladies\u2019 Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters \u2013 Black and African American women (often wives of porters) who worked in secret to recruit porters for the BSCP, collect union dues, and to educate porters\u2019 families on the benefits of unionizing.\u201cRed Caps\u201d \u2013 mostly African American men who volunteered at a railroad station to carry baggage and earn tips from passengers.<\/p>\n
More information \u201cBlack & African American Railroad Experience: A Work in Progress, Building The Exhibit Together\u201d is on display through June 2026.<\/p>\n
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., regular admission to the California State Railroad Museum is $12 for adults, $6 for youth (ages 6 to 17), and are free for children five and under. For more information about the California State Railroad Museum and Foundation, please visit\u00a0www.californiarailroad.museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The California State Railroad Museum is proud to present \u201cBlack & African American Railroad Experience: A Work in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-226409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}