Year - 2008
Reidentifying Race and Technology: Streetcars in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia
Project Description
Discussing Philadelphia’s streetcar system with the city council in 1859, Mayor Alexander Henry proclaimed that, “Perhaps no public improvement has ever promised more general benefit to the community.” But Mayor Henry did not consider Philadelphia’s black residents when he made this statement. Since the city’s railway companies barred black people from traveling in the streetcars, the “general benefit” created by streetcars was for the city’s white residents.