African-American Labor History: the Association of Colored Railway Trainmen records
The Association of Colored Railway Trainmen records (ACTA), 1918-1936, are held by Georgia State University’s Southern Labor Archives and consist of records of the ACTA and its predecessors. The collection includes correspondence pertaining to grievance and disciplinary cases between union officers, primarily B.G. McCullough, and various railroad company officials, transcripts of accident investigations, transcripts of proceedings, and minutes and summaries of national meetings held in 1934 and 1936 to organize a national union for colored railroad workers.
The ACTA was founded in 1912 as the Colored Trainmen of America. The union reorganized in 1918 as the Associated Colored Trainmen of America, and again in 1936 as the Association of Colored Railway Trainmen and Locomotive Firemen.
Other collections in the Southern Labor Archives with information about African-Americans and/or railroad unions:
AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department, Southern Office, records
Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks System Board 96, records
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Local 536 (Paducah, Ky.) records
All collections are available for research in the Special Collections and Archives department of Georgia State University Library, located on the 8th floor of Library South. If you have questions about our collections, please contact us at 404.413.2880 or archives@gsu.edu.