Maya Angelou has passed away, at the age of 86. As an adult, she gained global fame as a writer. Well before that, as as a teen-ager, she broke barriers right here in San Francisco, when she was hired by our namesake, Market Street Railway, as the first female African-American streetcar conductor in the city. She first told this story in “I Know Why the the Caged Bird Sings,” many years ago. She didn’t name the line she worked, but… — Read More
Something about the poet and author Dr. Maya Angelou escaped most people’s attention, until now. She was once employed by our namesake, Market Street Railway Company, Muni’s old competitor, as a streetcar conductor. The first black female conductor in San Francisco history, in fact. She said this decades ago in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, when she describes in some detail standing on the back platform of a streetcar rolling along the edge of Golden Gate Park, collecting nickels… — Read More
