SEPTA is commemorating Black History Month by remembering its own heroes and trailblazers.
At the forefront among them were eight employees who paved the way for African Americans to work with the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), which eventually turned into SEPTA.
Before the mid-1940s, Black workers for SEPTA were excluded from streetcar operator positions.
Emmanuella Myrthil, the Chief Culture and Social Impact Officer for SEPTA, explained this protocol changed in 1944 when eight employees were promoted. The eight were never identified.
“There were these eight employees who were, I think, at the time, custodians, and they got promoted up,” she said. “It was that time in history when our white counterparts did not necessarily appreciate that these eight men were promoted to conduct the trolleys at the time.”
Myrthil added Black workers during this time had typically been relegated to unskilled labor roles. She said the promotions for these eight workers came with some pushback.
“This started quite a bit of upset between the employee population, and they decided to go on strike,” she said.
The strike occurred in the middle of World War II, when many workers in Philadelphia relied on transit systems to reach the Navy Yards and factories, all of which were considered “critical hubs” in America’s wartime manufacturing effort.
“This strike came during the height of the war when Philadelphia was playing a major manufacturing role,” SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth Lawrence Jr. told the Philadelphia Tribune.
“Suddenly, the workers who powered these factories couldn’t get to and from work. After a contentious six-day work stoppage, President Roosevelt had enough and sent troops in to get the trolleys running again. That was in August of 1944. By October, the number of African-American trolley operators had doubled. And that’s the power of progress. And we can appreciate this progress while also reflecting on the work we have ahead and the work that still needs to be done. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have done it.”
Myrthil said while the end of the strike allowed Black men to continue in their streetcar positions and work among their white counterparts, it also fueled racial tensions.
“It lasted a long time,” she said. “And I can’t even imagine the discomfort and I can’t even imagine how it felt to be in that situation.”
A long trip to today
Myrthil said a lot has changed at SEPTA since the 1940s.
“When you think about our employee population now, it probably has completely flipped,” she said. “Now, a majority of our conductors and bus drivers are from the Black community, or Black and Brown community.”
She said she is “comforted” to see leaders within the organization who value equity in all areas – not just Black and Brown communities – as well.
“Again, that’s not just race and gender,” she said. “It’s moms and dads. It’s people from the country. It’s people from the city. It’s the tech people. It’s the not-tech people. It’s the creatives. I’m just proud that I work for an organization that cares about everyone feeling like they belong here.”
SEPTA has a long history of struggles, especially around funding, and has made a number of changes recently. These include renaming some of its transit lines, fare increases and service cutbacks. Gov. Josh Shapiro provided state highway funds late last year to assist the agency in continuing services without major service cutbacks and preventing a 21.5% fare increase.
However, concerns still exist as there is no permanent funding solution for SEPTA from the state legislature – meaning many of the rate hike and service cut issues are likely to come up again ahead of the 2026 fiscal year budget deliberations.
Despite these challenges, Myrthil emphasized the service in itself is equitable – and that SEPTA aims to provide access to everyone.
“The service is the service, right?” she said. “We’re not going to just run it in specific places. It’s available to everyone, I don’t necessarily have to promote that. We’re here, we are in the community. We are about moving people. We’re about connecting people.”
She explained that while SEPTA is not perfect, it continues to pursue improvement, and the leaders and people who are a part of the organization are open and evolving.
“We are a very different authority or a very different transportation system than we were,” she said. “We continue to serve everyone.”
