C&P Telephone cafeteria at Congress Heights: 1940 ca.
The C&P Telephone cafeteria at the Congress Heights telephone exchange in the Anacostia section of the District of Columbia is shown in this photograph circa 1940.
C&P operated eight cafeterias across the city for its workers during the 1940s employing about 500 people to prepare and serve food. The workers were represented by the Washington Telephone Traffic Union.
The food service workers were predominantly Black and were subject to Jim Crow practices by their employer.
However, the union accepted them on equal terms, mixing freely with White workers at union meetings and walking the same picket lines during strikes where most of Washington still practiced Jim Crow on the job, in theaters, restaurants, hotels and meeting halls.
Other predominantly Black classifications at C&P included elevator operators, which was the top position that management permitted Black workers. Other classifications included helpers, window washers, and rest room attendants.
In 1943, C&P opened an all-Black customer service center at 14th and U Streets NW under pressure from the World War II-era Fair Employment Practices Commission and a left-wing civil rights group in the city.
The first Black accounting clerks, clerk-typists, customer service representatives and managers were employed at the facility that was lambasted by rights groups as a continuation of Jim Crow.
In 1953, the first black clerical employees were transferred from the 14th & U facility to previously all-White workplaces under pressure from the federal government.
In 1956, the first telephone operator jobs were opened up to Black people by C&P.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmbnHJap
For a blog post on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union, see washingtonareaspark.com/2022/02/08/the-washington-telepho...
Photo by Theodor Horykczak. The image is courtesy of the Library of Congress, Call Number: LC-H814- 2326-041 [P&P]
C&P Telephone cafeteria at Congress Heights: 1940 ca.
The C&P Telephone cafeteria at the Congress Heights telephone exchange in the Anacostia section of the District of Columbia is shown in this photograph circa 1940.
C&P operated eight cafeterias across the city for its workers during the 1940s employing about 500 people to prepare and serve food. The workers were represented by the Washington Telephone Traffic Union.
The food service workers were predominantly Black and were subject to Jim Crow practices by their employer.
However, the union accepted them on equal terms, mixing freely with White workers at union meetings and walking the same picket lines during strikes where most of Washington still practiced Jim Crow on the job, in theaters, restaurants, hotels and meeting halls.
Other predominantly Black classifications at C&P included elevator operators, which was the top position that management permitted Black workers. Other classifications included helpers, window washers, and rest room attendants.
In 1943, C&P opened an all-Black customer service center at 14th and U Streets NW under pressure from the World War II-era Fair Employment Practices Commission and a left-wing civil rights group in the city.
The first Black accounting clerks, clerk-typists, customer service representatives and managers were employed at the facility that was lambasted by rights groups as a continuation of Jim Crow.
In 1953, the first black clerical employees were transferred from the 14th & U facility to previously all-White workplaces under pressure from the federal government.
In 1956, the first telephone operator jobs were opened up to Black people by C&P.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmbnHJap
For a blog post on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union, see washingtonareaspark.com/2022/02/08/the-washington-telepho...
Photo by Theodor Horykczak. The image is courtesy of the Library of Congress, Call Number: LC-H814- 2326-041 [P&P]