On Thursday, February 6, 2025 SEPTA held an event at Frankford District to honor eight African American men that played a key part in the transportation industry and social change.
Up until the mid-1940s and at a time when the African American population in Philadelphia was growing substantially African Americans could not get a job as a streetcar operator and were instead routinely relegated to unskilled labor positions only.
That all changed on August 1, 1944 when eight African American men were promoted to streetcar motormen or conductors.
These jobs were previously reserved for white workers only but at the time there was a labor shortage due to the company’s white employees being called to serve in World War II.
Because of their hiring a faction of white transit workers with the Philadelphia Transit Company (PTC) went on an unauthorized strike the same day and refused to work with these new hires—bringing transit to a standstill for several days.
The action halted the city’s war production as workers were unable to get to the Navy Yard and factories throughout the city—the third largest producer of war materials at the time. The military and the federal government took notice and promptly ordered the striking workers back to work on August 7.
By October 1944 the number of African American trolley operators doubled. That is the power of progress.
“At SEPTA we know we are the drivers of access for our diverse communities,” said SEPTA Interim General Manager Scott Sauer. “Our vision is for transit to be at the core of a resilient, prosperous, safe, and equitable community for all.”
SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth Lawrence remarked “These men persevered—determined to create a better life for themselves and their families—and became trolley operator trainees.”
SEPTA is proud to have a diverse workforce from our frontline employees and throughout our management ranks. Today of SEPTA’s 299 Trolley Operators 267 are African American.
Along with honoring these men SEPTA also recognized Chrystalle Cooper [Assistant Chief Operating Officer], Sharon Mapp [Assistant Director of Transportation Metro Rail], and Jeff Bankston [Director of Suburban Transportation] for their work and dedication.
There was also a musical performance by the drum ensemble Shomari Grimes led by Eric Grimes from WURD.
Customer Experience Manager Faith Boose ended the ceremony remarking, “Every single person here—including our friends in the break room—serves thousands upon thousands of people from all walks of life daily. It takes heart to do that in this day and time. It takes will and determination to do that. And thankfully we are doing that in a very different environment than the eight men that we’re honoring today.”