FICHE BAC THE RAILROAD

BAC oral 1ère séquence RIDE THIS TRAIN

In class, I studied the topic of The Train in America in relation with the notion of progress and I have been particulary interested in the social aspect of the railraod and how it allowed people to climb in the social ladder but i also wondered if the railroad has really been benefic for everybody. So today I will try to explain how the train contributed to the emancipation of population in the 19th in America ? And in which limite it did ?

The emancipation of woman :

The job of harvey girl consists in serving rich customers in Harvey House which were whistle-stop café or restaurant on the side of the railroad. In the 1890’s being a waitress were considered as a social progress because girl didn’t have much alternative if they wanted to work, particularly in the Far West.

Fred Harvey who opened a chain of restaurants along Santa-Fe raileoad gave wel-manered girl the opportunity to have a respectable job and gain financial independance.

We studied an extract of « Harvey Girl » by Sheila Wood Foard, in this extract we follow Clara massie who is also the central charactere present in the text, she wants to work as Harvey Girl, as she think it’s quite exciting, she say she is ready to work in Mexico and srong enough.

Miss Steel is also presnt in the text : she is the recruiter who is interviewing Clara Massie to hire her as a Harvey Girl. She appears severe at the beginning maybe because of her position but then she relax and tries not to smile which shows that she could be a nice personn.

Finally, Opa lis the last charactere present in the text, she is Clara’s Cousin, she’s also already a Harvey girl and works at Inion station at the lunch counter, she worked in California and Arizona.

We suppose that Clara might be dreaming about travelling, meeting people, and leaving her home, I gather that she doesn’t want to work in a dull job, in a store for example. She quite likely wants to enjoy freedom and rise above the social ladder. I think she may also be trying to escape from home besause she can’t stand her present life

The good aspect of this job are good wages, room and meal, travelling, meeting people, saving wages and it gives a chance to tise in the society. The cons are : it’s an hard work, you’re far from home (homesickness), you also have a lot of things to learn, Harvey girl’s rules are strict so you have to wear a uniform at all times and smile and be spotless.

The emancipation of black people :

The raileoas allowed african american people to gets job. Indeed thanks to the railroad they could become Pullman porter. In a documentary of CBS news a retired Pullman Porter is explaining what his job was about and we also hear about the impact of Georges Pullman’s initiative on the lives of African American.

Linus Scott gives here a testimony of his life, he’s nox 98 years old and start his job in 1941 and worked for 35 years old as a Pullman porter

More than 20 000 Pullman porters were hired after the civil war, it was mostly African American, this job was created by Georges Pullman to cater the demands of white travellers.

This job gives a better life for their children, this job also inspire the creation of the foudation for a middle-class and the foundation for the civil right movement named « Black union » which are brother hood in order to obtain better working conditions

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