Historian Eric K. Washington will discuss his new book, “Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal”, a long-overdue biography of the head of Grand Central Terminal’s Red Caps, James H. Williams, who flourished in the cultural nexus of Harlem and American railroads. Examining the deeply intertwined subjects of class, labor, and African American history, Washington chronicles Williams’s life, showing how the enterprising son of freed slaves successfully navigated the segregated world of the northern metropolis, and in so doing ultimately achieved financial and social influence. With this biography, Williams must now be considered, along with Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jacqueline Onassis, one of the great heroes of Grand Central’s storied past.
$15/Free for members
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