HALF A CAREER - DISCRIMINATION AND RAILROAD INTERNAL LABOR-MARKETS

This paper examines the causes and consequences of the racial structure of railroad internal labor markets in the American South. By 1900, many southern railroads hired blacks almost exclusively for middle‐level occupations on their trains but did not permit their promotion to top‐level positions. This institutionalized bias in promotion helps explain the employment of whites and blacks at identical jobs but different wages. It also explains why it was impossible for some southern railroads to adopt the seniority‐based promotion ladders that had become standard on railroads elsewhere in the United States. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved