Did slaves build the railroads?

While some enslaved people who lived in the region were used to build the railroad, enslaved people from the Piedmont and eastern areas of the state were often rented out to railway companies as well.



Yes, enslaved people played a massive and foundational role in the construction of the railroad infrastructure in the Southern United States during the 19th century. Historians have documented that prior to the American Civil War, nearly every railroad built in the South relied on enslaved labor. Railroad companies either owned enslaved people directly or, more commonly, "rented" them from local plantation owners. These individuals performed the grueling and dangerous work of clearing dense forests, leveling ground, blasting through rock, and laying heavy iron tracks. In the North, railroads were more commonly built by immigrant labor (such as Irish and Chinese workers), but in the South, the entire economic model of rail expansion was tethered to the institution of slavery. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, many formerly enslaved people were trapped in "convict leasing" systems, where they were forced to continue building railroads under brutal conditions that mirrored slavery. In 2026, there is an increasing effort by historians and descendants to ensure these individuals are recognized for their forced contribution to the industrial birth of the United States.

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Many workers contributed to the construction of railroads. On the East Coast, Native Americans, recently freed black people, and white laborers worked on the railroads. On the West Coast, many of the railroad workers were Chinese immigrants.

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The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was an engineering feat of human endurance, with the western leg built largely by thousands of immigrant Chinese laborers. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad relied on the labor of thousands of migrant workers, including Chinese, Irish, and Mormons workers.

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Railroad Worker demographics by race The most common ethnicity among railroad workers is White, which makes up 59.5% of all railroad workers. Comparatively, 14.3% of railroad workers are Hispanic or Latino and 14.3% of railroad workers are Black or African American.

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Most of them were Chinese workers who were paid less for their labor than their European counterparts. Chinese migrants worked in the Sierra foothills for the Central Pacific Railroad. For years, railroad workers were largely overlooked in memorial events marking the railroad's completion.

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“Almost 160 years ago, our transcontinental railroad was built with the ingenuity and hard work of diverse laborers. In the West, it was the Chinese track gangs. In the Midwest, it was the civil war veterans, including African Americans, as well as Irish immigrants.

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Irish immigrants often entered the workforce at the bottom of the occupational ladder and took on the menial and dangerous jobs that were often avoided by other workers. Many Irish American women became servants or domestic workers, while many Irish American men labored in coal mines and built railroads and canals.

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Railways were introduced in England in the seventeenth century as a way to reduce friction in moving heavily loaded wheeled vehicles. The first North American gravity road, as it was called, was erected in 1764 for military purposes at the Niagara portage in Lewiston, New York.

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North America's four major rail networks — Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific and Canadian National — all own lines that were built and operated with slave labor.

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He told President Andrew Johnson that the Chinese were indispensable to building the railroad: They were “quiet, peaceable, patient, industrious and economical.” In a stockholder report, Stanford described construction as a “herculean task” and said it had been accomplished thanks to the Chinese, who made up 90% of the ...

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Working on the Railroad Teamsters and graders received the least, while the iron men got the healthiest sum of anybody save their foremen. Like their Irish counterparts on the Central Pacific, the Union Pacific men had a staple diet of beef, bread, and black coffee.

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These men, names like James Hill, Jay and George Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Edward Harriman, and Collis P. Huntington are largely responsible for building much of the country's network.

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Between 1865-1869, 10,000 -12,000 Chinese were involved in the building of the western leg of the Central Pacific Railroad. The work was backbreaking and highly dangerous. Approximately 1,200 died while building the Transcontinental Railroad. Over a thousand Chinese had their bones shipped back to China to be buried.

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African Americans were employed as train porters, freight handlers, switch tenders, and engine shop workers. Following the Civil War, George Pullman established the Pullman Sleeping Car Company.

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The Legend of John Henry is just that, a “legend,” and through the legend, John Henry became a symbol. He symbolized the many African Americans whose sweat and hard work built and maintained the rails across West Virginia. He was a symbol for the black workers who gave their lives in these dangerous occupations.

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