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The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West
On an unusually cold January night in 1943, Martha James was murdered on a train in rural Oregon, near the Willamette Valley town of Albany. She was White, Southern, and newly-married to a Navy pilot. Despite inconsistent and contradictory eyewitness accounts, a young Black cook by the name of Robert Folkes, a trainman from South Central Los Angeles, was charged with the crime. The ensuing investigation and sensational murder trial captured national attention during a period of intense wartime fervor and extensive Black domestic migration. Folkes’ trial and controversial conviction—resulting in his execution by the state of Oregon—reshaped how Oregonians and others in the West thought about race, class, and privilege.
In this deeply researched and detailed account, Geier explores how race, gender, and class affected the attitudes of local town-folk, law officers, and courtroom jurors toward Black trainmen on the West Coast, at a time when militarization skewed perceptions of virtue, status, and authority. He delves into the working conditions and experiences of unionized Black trainmen in their “home and away” lives in Los Angeles and Portland, while illuminating the different ways that they, and other residents of Oregon and southern California, responded to news of “Oregon’s murdered war bride.” Reporters, civil rights activists, and curiosity seekers transformed the trial and appeals process into a public melodrama.
The investigation, trial, and conviction of Robert Folkes galvanized civil rights activists, labor organizers, and community leaders into challenging the flawed judicial process and ultimately the death penalty in Oregon, serving as a catalyst for civil rights activism that bridged rural and urban divides. The Color of Night will appeal to “true crime” aficionados, and to anyone interested in the history of race and labor relations, working conditions, community priorities, and attitudes toward the death penalty in the first half of the 20th century.
In this deeply researched and detailed account, Geier explores how race, gender, and class affected the attitudes of local town-folk, law officers, and courtroom jurors toward Black trainmen on the West Coast, at a time when militarization skewed perceptions of virtue, status, and authority. He delves into the working conditions and experiences of unionized Black trainmen in their “home and away” lives in Los Angeles and Portland, while illuminating the different ways that they, and other residents of Oregon and southern California, responded to news of “Oregon’s murdered war bride.” Reporters, civil rights activists, and curiosity seekers transformed the trial and appeals process into a public melodrama.
The investigation, trial, and conviction of Robert Folkes galvanized civil rights activists, labor organizers, and community leaders into challenging the flawed judicial process and ultimately the death penalty in Oregon, serving as a catalyst for civil rights activism that bridged rural and urban divides. The Color of Night will appeal to “true crime” aficionados, and to anyone interested in the history of race and labor relations, working conditions, community priorities, and attitudes toward the death penalty in the first half of the 20th century.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2015
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August 1, 2018
The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West by Max. G. Geier is am amazing book. Reading it was hard, but I imagine that writing it was also difficult. Personally, I have written about racism and it is hard to get the right tone so that people can actually read the story. This story had to be told and Geier is very good in setting the context. The beauty of libraries is call numbers, since I found this book because I was looking for another, Eric Arnesen’s book, Brotherhoods of Color about Black railroad workers’ struggle for equality. Next to this classic was a newer book that explore the conditions of railroad workers during the War.
We learn much about Oregon, the site of a murder of a young wife in a tourist Pullman car traveling from south from Portland, but she is murder and the case is really about who did the crime. Much of how we understand crime has to do with the narrative, some of those narratives are found in journalists’ reporting of crimes, but also detective genre novels—where we want the smoking gun and can be assured. Yet, crime is complicated and, in this situation, people were all on the same railroad train, but living in different worlds that had to do with race, gender, age, and class—but also the work they did.
Robert E. Lee Folkes, a cook working for the Southern Pacific RR was a young Black man who had a stable work history and contributed to the survival of his family—a family that fled the violence of the south for LA. His stable work history is not used to dismiss him as a suspect, particularly when there was no psychical evidence and he was several cars behind the “murder car.” Raised in LA, coming of age during an era of integration in his home city, he did not exhibit the demeanor that many White people would expect from a young Black man. Working as a level 2 cook, he quickly rose up the ranks and his work unit was integrated and he is cooking, while waiters are delivering food to as many passengers. Thus, unlike the Pullman Porters I have been reading about, Folkes’ work roles do not involve paying deference to passengers. He has to help secure food from the commissary, loading it and begin heating the stove and making coffee and cooking many meals. Yet he become the target even though a witness, and perhaps the person who did the crime blamed it on a Black man. The first target was many cars beyond the crime, so the convenient suspect is Folkes. You learn in the beginning overview that he will be executed, even after an appeal, so Geier’s task is to take us though the story and understand how this legal lynching happened in the liberal state of Oregon.
I knew Oregon had a period of hanging and running Chinese immigrants out of towns. It is also a state that removed Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans into concentration camps. As a state, they do not want these folks to return when the government closes the camps as the war ends. Arkansas, a state that had two concentration camps, did not people to remain after the war. Oregon, initially did not want Black Americans to live in the state. That had changed, but during the war it does not mean Black people were welcomed. Even during the trial, Black witnesses had trouble securing lodging and people actually suggested that they sleep in the “murder car,” which was used to “recreate” the scene of the murder.
Railroads move workers and passengers through territories that are not always friendly. This is still the era of segregation, but this means that when railroad men have to spend time in a community during the turnarounds between jobs, they might have trouble finding lodging. So while Oregon, had elected officially running as members of the KKK, the state wanted to be seen as “color-blind.” Thus, the lynching was not a mob event, but a very complicated and organized effort to deny a Black man his rights. Over the long process, we can see that this situation is very much shaped by race, but officials and members of the public want to pretend that the trial was fair.
Geier places this drama with the context of the war. People are moving about and interacting with new populations at this time. The railroads have a contract to move troops, so they are making money, both the railroad lines and Pullman Company that leases the special cars. Men and women are overworked, but they are interacting with a population that is not use to rail travel. This is disorienting from many, so a woman is lost, her luggage is lost and she is finally reunited with it, but murdered later than night while her husband is on another train. Yet, the racism if the era, especially in rural Oregon, since the crime was committed while the train was traveling.
We can understand the jury, mostly women who are not use to Black men with skills and class, but they are feed a familiar narrative. Yet, what is most amazing is the Oregon State Police, the coroners, the LA police department, detectives who interrogate Folkes when he finally arrives in LA. They are manufacturing evidence and keeping documents and witnesses from the defense attorneys. The man who found the women's body had blood on him. Private Wilson should by many narratives been the prime suspect was a military man. The jury listens to military people, police officers and others White men with positions more than Black and White railroad men, who better know where they train was, the timeline of the crime, and who took actions to stop the train car and other matters. Even some White people who attended the trial recognized that the state did not make its case. Testimony from these White men was contradictory.
Much like Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice, which explore racial dynamics in 1920s Detroit, where people conspire to deprive Black people of their property and rights, the Color of Night tells a story that reveals how deeply racist many Americans can be. In this case, the death penalty is also on the line. It was abolished and then reinstated, but the Gov. Earl Snell does not stand in front of the courts, even when there are many questions raised in the appeal process. Laws were broken here to put a man to death. Yet, they dynamics around it are complex.
Folkes’ family, union members, Portland NAACP, and people for LA work for a fair trial and then push for an appeal and finally try to get the Governor to not put this man to death. The case has some national appear and speaks to what will be the racial dynamics during peace time. We can see also other ways that members of the Black community are pushing for social change. Folkes goes to his death still saying his was innocent. Yet, his story really did die with him. Yet this unionized member of the Dining Car Workers Union struggle did push a Civil rights agenda.
We can see from recent historical work how the clashes with police and the legal system actively denied Black people their rights. Yet, they are confronted as Black people move out of deep poverty into working-class and middle-class occupations. Some of the reading is hard, since Geier goes through the court transcripts, doctored as they were, and legal arguments in the appeals. Yet, we can see the complicated ways that people misuse institutions to retain White supremacy. It gives us much to think about during this era we are living now.
We learn much about Oregon, the site of a murder of a young wife in a tourist Pullman car traveling from south from Portland, but she is murder and the case is really about who did the crime. Much of how we understand crime has to do with the narrative, some of those narratives are found in journalists’ reporting of crimes, but also detective genre novels—where we want the smoking gun and can be assured. Yet, crime is complicated and, in this situation, people were all on the same railroad train, but living in different worlds that had to do with race, gender, age, and class—but also the work they did.
Robert E. Lee Folkes, a cook working for the Southern Pacific RR was a young Black man who had a stable work history and contributed to the survival of his family—a family that fled the violence of the south for LA. His stable work history is not used to dismiss him as a suspect, particularly when there was no psychical evidence and he was several cars behind the “murder car.” Raised in LA, coming of age during an era of integration in his home city, he did not exhibit the demeanor that many White people would expect from a young Black man. Working as a level 2 cook, he quickly rose up the ranks and his work unit was integrated and he is cooking, while waiters are delivering food to as many passengers. Thus, unlike the Pullman Porters I have been reading about, Folkes’ work roles do not involve paying deference to passengers. He has to help secure food from the commissary, loading it and begin heating the stove and making coffee and cooking many meals. Yet he become the target even though a witness, and perhaps the person who did the crime blamed it on a Black man. The first target was many cars beyond the crime, so the convenient suspect is Folkes. You learn in the beginning overview that he will be executed, even after an appeal, so Geier’s task is to take us though the story and understand how this legal lynching happened in the liberal state of Oregon.
I knew Oregon had a period of hanging and running Chinese immigrants out of towns. It is also a state that removed Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans into concentration camps. As a state, they do not want these folks to return when the government closes the camps as the war ends. Arkansas, a state that had two concentration camps, did not people to remain after the war. Oregon, initially did not want Black Americans to live in the state. That had changed, but during the war it does not mean Black people were welcomed. Even during the trial, Black witnesses had trouble securing lodging and people actually suggested that they sleep in the “murder car,” which was used to “recreate” the scene of the murder.
Railroads move workers and passengers through territories that are not always friendly. This is still the era of segregation, but this means that when railroad men have to spend time in a community during the turnarounds between jobs, they might have trouble finding lodging. So while Oregon, had elected officially running as members of the KKK, the state wanted to be seen as “color-blind.” Thus, the lynching was not a mob event, but a very complicated and organized effort to deny a Black man his rights. Over the long process, we can see that this situation is very much shaped by race, but officials and members of the public want to pretend that the trial was fair.
Geier places this drama with the context of the war. People are moving about and interacting with new populations at this time. The railroads have a contract to move troops, so they are making money, both the railroad lines and Pullman Company that leases the special cars. Men and women are overworked, but they are interacting with a population that is not use to rail travel. This is disorienting from many, so a woman is lost, her luggage is lost and she is finally reunited with it, but murdered later than night while her husband is on another train. Yet, the racism if the era, especially in rural Oregon, since the crime was committed while the train was traveling.
We can understand the jury, mostly women who are not use to Black men with skills and class, but they are feed a familiar narrative. Yet, what is most amazing is the Oregon State Police, the coroners, the LA police department, detectives who interrogate Folkes when he finally arrives in LA. They are manufacturing evidence and keeping documents and witnesses from the defense attorneys. The man who found the women's body had blood on him. Private Wilson should by many narratives been the prime suspect was a military man. The jury listens to military people, police officers and others White men with positions more than Black and White railroad men, who better know where they train was, the timeline of the crime, and who took actions to stop the train car and other matters. Even some White people who attended the trial recognized that the state did not make its case. Testimony from these White men was contradictory.
Much like Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice, which explore racial dynamics in 1920s Detroit, where people conspire to deprive Black people of their property and rights, the Color of Night tells a story that reveals how deeply racist many Americans can be. In this case, the death penalty is also on the line. It was abolished and then reinstated, but the Gov. Earl Snell does not stand in front of the courts, even when there are many questions raised in the appeal process. Laws were broken here to put a man to death. Yet, they dynamics around it are complex.
Folkes’ family, union members, Portland NAACP, and people for LA work for a fair trial and then push for an appeal and finally try to get the Governor to not put this man to death. The case has some national appear and speaks to what will be the racial dynamics during peace time. We can see also other ways that members of the Black community are pushing for social change. Folkes goes to his death still saying his was innocent. Yet, his story really did die with him. Yet this unionized member of the Dining Car Workers Union struggle did push a Civil rights agenda.
We can see from recent historical work how the clashes with police and the legal system actively denied Black people their rights. Yet, they are confronted as Black people move out of deep poverty into working-class and middle-class occupations. Some of the reading is hard, since Geier goes through the court transcripts, doctored as they were, and legal arguments in the appeals. Yet, we can see the complicated ways that people misuse institutions to retain White supremacy. It gives us much to think about during this era we are living now.
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