A lot of California 4th graders learn about the transcontinental railroad, the “Big Four” tycoons, and the mostly Chinese laborers who laid track through the mountains. But some of this history is overlooked, like how the railroad, and its connection to food, shaped much of California’s story.
The railroad’s surprising impact on food and civil rights in California
Railroad chef in narrow kitchen cutting turkey, undated. (African American Museum and Library at Oakland)
