Remembering the Safe Bus Company: How 21 Black jitney drivers are responsible for modern Winston-Salem transportation
By Erin Burnett
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WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (WXII) — When you see a bright green Winston-Salem Transit Authority Bus rolling down Trade Street, what do you see?
Alita Carter said you should see a symbol of generational resilience, the entrepreneurial spirit and what Black people can achieve with *and* without access to resources.
Alita Carter is the great-grand-niece of Harvey and Ralph Morgan. They were brothers and two of the 21 founders of the Safe Bus Company.
What is the Safe Bus Company?
In the 1920s, segregation reached every aspect of life for Black people in Winston-Salem. This included how African Americans got to work, school and around the city.
Winston-Salem’s trolley service — the Southern Public Utilities Company — did not run in majority-Black neighborhoods like Happy Hill.
Winston Salem Neighborhood before Safe Bus Company provided transportation to majority Black neighborhoods People, especially tobacco factory workers, had to rely on a network of vehicles called jitneys to get to work.
The network of 35 drivers was complicated, independently run, had scattered, unreliable pickup and drop-off times and was unsafe.
In 1926, 21 of these drivers, including Ralph and Harvey Morgan, came together to form a transportation company for Black residents. They named it The Safe Bus Company.
Growing up, Carter said her mother passed down the story of Safe Bus to her, showed her letters and encouraged her to do her own research.
“She just talked about their ingenuity,” she said, “to come together and decide, ‘Hey, let’s put our money together. Let’s stop all of this competition here with our jitneys, and let us formulate something that ensures that our people can get to work safely, warm and, you know, on time.'”
Where does the name come from? Winston-Salem historians explained the name of the company comes from the promise that those 21 jitney drivers made to city leaders upon its founding, to create a safer, more reliable transportation system for African American residents.
“We talk about generational wealth… However, there’s a thing I say, called generational resilience, and generational make a way out of no way,” Carter said, “and that is what I believe that this family represents.”
Effley Howell is a Triad historian and CEO of the Thankful Heritage Foundation.
“This was a way that people could get to school, could get to church, could get to sports locations… It was a way of life for the people in Winston-Salem,” he said.
Carter also said she was inspired by the number of women at the forefront of the company’s creation. She noted Safe Bus Company had two female presidents in the 1960s, Delphi Morgan and Mary Morgan.
“In the ’60s, having had two female presidents, you know, Delphi Morgan, succeeding Mary as president, that was, that was progressive. Before, you know, we had even seen those kind of things,” she said.
Her family’s tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit inspired her to create her own granola company, called Blaqola.
In 1972, the Winston-Salem Transit Authority purchased the assets of the Safe Bus Company, and it became a part of the city-run department.
Carter said this is not just a family tale that will be passed down by her lineage.
Carter said the story of the Safe Bus Company is the Triad’s story. It is America’s story. And she hopes people never forget that, especially the next time you ride a WSTA bus.
“The Safe Bus Company is Winston-Salem Transportation Authority. Hopefully, this will be one of those things that encourages them to dig a little deeper,” she said.
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