Last updated: March 12, 2025
Place
Oak Ridge Wayside: To Have a Job
NPS
Quick Facts
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Subtitle
Looking for a Better Opportunity
Main Text
About 7,000 Black Americans came to Oak Ridge to work on the Manhattan Project. They came from across the country, primarily from Tennessee and the Deep South. These workers faced economic hardships and racism throughout the country. Abroad, they fought in a segregated army. For everyone the question of working for the government was a personal one. For many Black Manhattan Project workers, the answer was clear: They came to Oak Ridge to have a job.
The prospect of wartime jobs in “a place in Tennessee” had spread throughout the South, often by word of mouth or by contractor recruiters. These hopeful workers came by bus, car, and train to the gates of the Clinton Engineer Works. One worker, Kattie Strickland recounted she went from making $13 per month working in a library in Auburn, Alabama to $27 per week as a janitor at K-27. There was no wage differential between Black and White workers working the same jobs, rather Black workers were restricted to working lower paid jobs, primarily janitorial and construction.
Quote: I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect because at that time, I’d never been out of Mississippi. But I had an explorin’ mind and I always wanted to go and find out what was goin’ on, if the grass was greener on the other side of the mountain. And that was the reason I came. I came lookin’ for a better job.- R.L. Ayers
Exhibit Panel Description
A black and white exhibit panel on a black frame approximately four feet tall. The panel has a black band at the top and a title underneath that reads "To Have a Job: Looking for a Better Opportunity." The center of the panel includes a black and white photo of Black workers at a coal yard. The text of the panel is located at the bottom.
Visit this Exhibit Panel
This wayside is located in the parking lot of the K-25 Overlook along the Oak Ridge Turnpike across from the K-25 site in Roane County, TN.
Looking for a Better Opportunity
Main Text
About 7,000 Black Americans came to Oak Ridge to work on the Manhattan Project. They came from across the country, primarily from Tennessee and the Deep South. These workers faced economic hardships and racism throughout the country. Abroad, they fought in a segregated army. For everyone the question of working for the government was a personal one. For many Black Manhattan Project workers, the answer was clear: They came to Oak Ridge to have a job.
The prospect of wartime jobs in “a place in Tennessee” had spread throughout the South, often by word of mouth or by contractor recruiters. These hopeful workers came by bus, car, and train to the gates of the Clinton Engineer Works. One worker, Kattie Strickland recounted she went from making $13 per month working in a library in Auburn, Alabama to $27 per week as a janitor at K-27. There was no wage differential between Black and White workers working the same jobs, rather Black workers were restricted to working lower paid jobs, primarily janitorial and construction.
Quote: I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect because at that time, I’d never been out of Mississippi. But I had an explorin’ mind and I always wanted to go and find out what was goin’ on, if the grass was greener on the other side of the mountain. And that was the reason I came. I came lookin’ for a better job.- R.L. Ayers
Exhibit Panel Description
A black and white exhibit panel on a black frame approximately four feet tall. The panel has a black band at the top and a title underneath that reads "To Have a Job: Looking for a Better Opportunity." The center of the panel includes a black and white photo of Black workers at a coal yard. The text of the panel is located at the bottom.
Visit this Exhibit Panel
This wayside is located in the parking lot of the K-25 Overlook along the Oak Ridge Turnpike across from the K-25 site in Roane County, TN.