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A Not Uncommon Story
WHEN THE JOURNALIST and civil rights advocate Thomas Courtney Fleming died in 2006, his obituary noted that he was “San Francisco’s longest-running colum- nist.” His work appeared in that city’s black newspaper, the Sun-Reporter, from 1944 to 2004. Fleming was born in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1907, and moved to California in 1918. When he graduated from high school in 1926, he first went to work as a bellhop, waiter, and cook for the Admiral Line steamship company, then — and here’s one reason he caught my attention — in 1927 for the dining car department of the Sacramen- to Northern and the Southern Pacific. Now, veteran journalist Max Millard has
pored through Fleming’s original writings and over 100 hours of his Fleming inter- views to assemble a memoir entitled In the Black World: Thomas Fleming’s 20th Centu- ry. The last quarter of volume one, which covers 1907-1932 and is the first of two vol- umes, relates Fleming’s experiences on the railroad. For just a sample, let’s start at the beginning: “I heard that both the Southern Pacific
and the Pullman Company put on extra cars in the summer. A cook could get jobs in oth- er places more quickly than a waiter could, and my father had been a cook, so I decided to try to be one too. I went to the Southern
Eight-story Golden Spike Tower offers panoramic view of Union Pacific's Bailey Yard.
Largest rail yard in the world—thousands of railcars every day!
Just minutes off I-80; Tour groups welcome!
Great gift shop and historic displays.
An unforgettable experience for train lovers of all ages!
North Platte
Grand Island
Omaha Lincoln
Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center
1249 North Homestead Rd. North Platte, Nebraska 69101 p 308.532.9920
GoldenSpikeTower.com Visit website for hours. Admission charged. An equal opportunity provider. Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society
1523 Howar Ad ccess Rd., Suite A, Upland, CA 91786-2582
www.sphts.orgw.
6 JULY 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Locomotives and Freight Equipment 1880-1960
by Robert A. Bader $85.00
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Pacific commissary in West Oakland and asked if there were any openings. The man at the dispatcher’s window said no, but told me to stick around, and wrote my name in a pad. There were quite a number of other black men, some of them students, waiting to see if they would be hired. “I stayed until 4 o’clock that day and for
two more days. Then the dispatcher came out and asked if I wanted a job as fourth cook. I answered yes and he signed me up. “The dining car was stocking up in prepa-
ration for a trip to Los Angeles the next morning. The chef gave me a white jacket, checkered denim trousers, apron and white cap, then sent me and a waiter to the com- missary to get supplies. . . .” “On my first trip, before the train got its
load of human beings, the chef started me to shelling a 50-pound sack of green peas. A switch engine sneaked up to the front of the train and began to push us backwards to the Oakland Mole, a pier extending out into the bay, where ferries brought passengers from the Ferry Building in San Francisco. . . .” “Our train departed promptly at 8 a.m. . . .
The engine shuddered into motion as the wheels of the great train rolled jerkily, then smoothed out. I felt a thrill as the train real- ly began to roll, and a waiter came into the pantry and shouted his first order through
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