When Segregation Was Modern
As the nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas H. Garver, organizing curator of the O. Winston Link Museum, writes to to correct this old post:
I note your reference in your website to the fact that Modernism Magazine cites the O. Winston Link Museum, located in the old Norfolk and Western Railway station in Roanoke as having removed the "COLORED" sign from above its door.
Let me point out that this sign was removed decades ago when segregation on public conveyances was no longer permitted nor tolerated. The station itself was closed in 1971, with the termination of passenger service, and subsequently used for offices until it was abandoned about 20 years later. The museum does discuss the fact that the station was a segregated facility in a text and illustrative panel installed inside the museum.
From the Library of Congress, here are a couple of vintage photos of the station, which was redesigned by Raymond Loewy in 1947:
