Walter Black photograph   Save
Ohio History Connection
Description: Glass plate negative showing Walter Black (1895- ), a Youngstown, Ohio, steelworker, in 1920. Walter Black was born in 1895 in Knoxville, Tennessee. During World War I, Black moved to Youngstown, and like many other African Americans, he sought employment in the steel industry. In 1915, Black found a job at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company's Hubbard blast furnaces. African Americans had largely been excluded from jobs in the iron and steel industry prior to the First World War. During the war, however, a severe labor shortage led many steel companies to actively recruit African Americans for employment; as a result, thousands of African Americans migrated from the South to take new jobs in the industrial North. Starting as a common laborer, Black worked his way up to cinder snapper, scrap man, stove tender, and assistant blower. Eventually, Black became a blast furnace foreman--one of the first African Americans to be promoted to foreman in the Youngstown District. On August 16, 1920, a worked named A.S. Morris was overcome by poisonous gas while working at the top of the #2 Hubbard blast furnace. Black climbed to the top of the furnace and carried Morris to ground level. Morris, who had stopped breathing, was revived when Black applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This photograph was taken shortly after he saved Morris's life. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02994
Subjects: African Americans -- Employment; Blast furnaces -- Ohio; Ohio Economy -- Economy -- Labor; Steel industry and trade--Ohio--Youngstown--History;
Places: Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)