Colored Shopmen's Locker & Lavatory
The railroad provided separate washroom facilities for whites and African-Americans.
Facilities and opportunities were quite different for black and white people historically in the segregated South. Jim Crow laws required “separate but equal” public facilities. The Central of Georgia railroad was no exception. Typically, African-Americans held labor and trade jobs, with limited opportunities for advancement. African-American railroad employees formed their own social and professional organizations.
This washroom served African-Americans, while a washroom for white workers as located near the Worker’ Garden. Washrooms at the site provided shower, lockers, and changing facilities. “White” and “Colored” signs defined these spaces, the same way the signs on the right marked foundations at the rail shops.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.