The history of the railroad has belonged to men. History recounts the names and faces of men who planned the routes, built the tracks, and operated the trains. What about the women?
Women of the American railroad crossed lines and blazed trails for future generations. They championed change and improvements, not only for the railroad industry, but also for society as a whole. Enslaved African American women helped build the tracks in the South. Women explored the rugged landscape to chart routes for travel. They cleaned railroad stations and served food in restaurants. As telegraph operators, they kept trains running safely and on time. Women designed railroad stations, trains, and safer ways to travel. When men fought wars, women built and maintained the mighty locomotives that moved a nation.
Women challenged the system when it did not honor the rights of individuals. Crossing Lines: Women of the American Railroad tells some of their stories.
Shirley Burman
Remembering The Women
"The many colorful histories of America’s railroads are usually based on the stories of the men who built and operated them. Little is mentioned of the contributions of women to those histories. I have tried to give faces to these railroad women who have stood in the shadows for over 167 years…"
– Shirley Burman, 2006
In 1978, California State Parks hired Shirley Burman to photograph the construction of its newest project: the California State Railroad Museum. She is an award-winning railroad photographer and the country’s leading authority on women and the railroad. Shirley has written books, magazine articles, and traveling exhibits on women’s integral role in the railroad industry.
Shirley married railroad photographer Richard Steinheimer in 1984. Together, they traveled the country with their railroad photography business. Shirley photographed women doing the same gritty and dangerous jobs done by all railroaders. Her collection of photographs, artifacts, and research material is massive. Their stories would have been lost without Shirley’s commitment.
We are grateful to Shirley Burman for her life’s work and dedication to women railroaders. In 2019, Shirley’s research and support guided Sacramento State Public History student, Nicole Allison. Nicole wrote her graduate thesis project on women and the railroad. Her work provided the content for this exhibit.
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Anna Judah
"Make Yourself Some Pantaloons!"
"Oh! Oh! That I could only climb to the summit of the Sierras [sic], where I stood with him those long years ago, looking west and east over the mighty summits stretching out and on before us and could shout to the world my story."
– Anna Judah, 1889
Anna Judah was ahead of her time. As a woman of social standing in the nineteenth century, she did not devote her life to domestic and charitable functions. Instead, Anna worked side-by-side with her husband. When Theodore Judah dedicated his life to the construction of a transcontinental railroad, Anna’s skills and support helped him achieve his goal.
Anna accompanied her husband on some of his Sierra survey trips. Wearing pantaloons and gaiters (pants and boots), she sketched the trails and terrain. On his lobbying trips to Washington, D.C., Anna organized Theodore’s notes and maps. “It may be I was just the wife for him,” she wrote years later, “for I never held back.”
Anna died in 1895, 32 years after Theodore Judah’s premature death in 1863. She never remarried. Anna protected her husband’s legacy, fearful that history would forget his important contribution to the railroad.
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Modesta Avila
"This Land Belongs To Me!"
"This land belongs to me. And if the railroad wants to run here, they will have to pay me ten thousand dollars."
– Modesta Avila, 1889
Southern California in the late nineteenth century was a land of change. Once dominated by sprawling ranchos and a Spanish-speaking population, white immigration increased throughout the 1880s. The railroad and commercial real estate expanded into the Los Angeles region. Mexican Americans sold their land for low, unfair prices because they could not afford to keep their land. Modesta Avila fought these forces and served time in prison as a result.
When the Santa Fe Railway laid tracks 15-feet from Modesta’s home, she demanded a $10,000 payment. The railroad claimed its right-of-way and refused to pay. Modesta protested by placing a railroad tie, or hanging a clothesline, across the tracks. Reports vary regarding the obstruction she chose. It was removed before the train passed.
Modesta paid a high price for her protest. She served 2 years and 4 months at San Quentin for obstructing a railroad track. Prevailing racist and sexist attitudes contributed to her conviction.
Modesta Avila challenged the powers she believed were intruding upon her heritage and her community.
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Jennie Curtis
The Battle For Workers Everywhere
"We ask you to come along with us because we are not just fighting for ourselves, but for decent conditions for workers everywhere."
– Jennie Curtis, 1894
As a young woman, Jennie Curtis worked as a seamstress for the Pullman Palace Car Company. At age 19, she helped lead one of the biggest labor strikes in American history.
In 1893, an economic depression hit the country. Founder George Pullman cut jobs, wages, and increased working hours. He also refused to reduce rents in the company-owned town. Workers struggled to make ends meet, falling deeper in debt to the company.
Jennie joined the American Railway Union and became a division leader. She and other workers grew tired of the poor working conditions. They launched a strike on May 11, 1894. Thousands of railroad workers joined the boycott. Railroads shut down across America. Federal troops violently broke the strike on July 20, 1894.
In August 1894, Jennie testified to the U.S. Strike Commission regarding working and living conditions at the Pullman Company. In 1898, the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled that the Pullman Company could no longer operate a company town. Jennie Curtis’ actions improved conditions for workers everywhere.
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Olive W. Dennis
Travel In Comfort
"There is no reason that a woman can’t be an engineer simply because no other woman has ever been one; a woman can accomplish anything if she tries hard enough."
– Olive W. Dennis, B&O Magazine, 1920
Olive W. Dennis took the “pain out of the train.” The world’s first “Engineer of Service,” she invented many comforts we take for granted in travel today.
In 1909, Olive attended Columbia University and earned a master’s degree in math and astronomy. She taught math but wanted to become a civil engineer. She decided to go back to school. In 1920, Olive became the second woman to earn a master’s degree in civil engineering from Cornell University.
The Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad hired Olive in 1920. For the next 31 years, she developed ways to make railroad travel more comfortable. Air-conditioning, footrests, reclining seats, and stain-resistant fabric were all innovations of Olive W. Dennis. Today, buses, trains and airplanes routinely offer these luxuries.
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Rosina Tucker
Fighting For Union Rights
"…on reflection, I accepted such as challenges, and used what ability I had to surmount them, rather than allow them to depress me, for I have grown to the degree that I have no fear of adverse opinions."
– Rosina Tucker, 1977
Rosina Tucker spent most of her 105 years fighting for the rights of others. As a civil rights activist, she helped feed, clothe and educate local children in the Washington, D.C. area. As a labor leader, she helped organize the first successful labor union for African Americans.
In 1929, labor leader A. Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping-Car Porters. Sleeping-car porters acted as valets, bellhops, babysitters, and security guards for all passengers in their assigned cars. They worked endless hours and barely made a living wage. All porters were African American.
Rosina worked as the liaison between the porters and the Brotherhood. Because company informants spied on members, Pullman Porters feared losing their jobs if they joined the union. Rosina visited over 300 porters in Washington, D.C. to explain the union’s benefits. She distributed information and collected dues.
In 1938, Rosina founded a local chapter for the International Ladies’ Auxiliary for the porters’ wives. Rosina Tucker’s work was instrumental in improving working conditions and wages for porters.
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Railroadettes
Don't Call Me Rosie!
"From the modern lady ‘smithy,’ ruling a mighty steam hammer with delicate touch in a blacksmith shop, to the patriotic women handling supplies in stores, the ‘railroadettes’ have performed valiantly in many shops, stores and roundhouse jobs."
– Southern Pacific Bulletin, November 1944
Railroads and other industries faced severe worker shortages in times of war. During WWII, nearly 20,000 Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad employees joined the armed forces. Women helped fill the jobs that men left behind.
“Rosie the Riveter” was a national symbol in the campaign to encourage women to join the workforce. SP referred to the women workers to as “Railroadettes,” and not “Rosies.”
SP needed women to work as brakemen, firemen, station agents, carpenters, machinists, and general office positions. The majority of jobs and white-collar work went to white women. African American and Latinx women worked as skilled and unskilled laborers, cleaned cars, wiped engines and maintained railroad beds.
The U.S. railroad industry ran at top efficiency because women filled the vacancies left by the men who fought in the war.
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Leah Rosenfeld
Equality On The Railroad
"You must realize that you were a pioneer in the battle for sex equality and that you made legal history."
– Attorney for Leah Rosenfeld, 1975
In 1955, Leah “Rosie” Rosenfeld applied for a station agent position in Saugus, California. Despite 10 years of seniority, Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad denied her promotion. California’s Protective Laws barred women from lifting 25 pounds or working more than 8 hours a day. The job required lifting 50 pounds and 10-hour days. Rosie re-applied every year. Every year she was denied.
In 1964, Congress passed The Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibited discrimination against hiring women. On August 30, 1968, Rosie filed a sex discrimination suit against the SP Railroad. On November 25, SP settled the case. Rosie was finally promoted.
By 1971, railroad industries began recruiting women for all railroad jobs. Rosie Rosenfeld fought for and achieved gender equality on the railroad.
Photograph of Leah Rosenfeld courtesy of Shirley Burman.