2-832-979 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

This bus station waiting room sign, circa 1957, is from the Birmingham AL, Greyhound Bus Station. It is a standard train or bus station sign from a southern state prior to 1964 restricting the seating of non-white passengers. The sign consists of a piece of plywood painted white with black stenciled text that reads: [ WAITING ROOM / (INTERSTATE AND WHITE INTRASTATE PASSENGERS) ]. The lower right hand corner of the sign has been splintered off. During the period of racial segregation in the United States, signs were used to indicate where African-Americans could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat.