Bus Token
Company: Safe Bus Company
Location: Winston-Salem
Made of: Brass (typically 16mm in diameter)
Date: 1930–1940
About the Token
Tokens like this one were used to ride throughout Winston-Salem on the Safe Bus line.
About the Safe Bus Company
The Safe Bus Company, one of the largest Black-owned transportation companies in the nation, was created in 1926 and operated until 1972. Initially, it focused on carrying African American workers to and from their jobs, but it eventually evolved to serve the entire city. The organization also included women in leadership roles.
Mary Burns became the first woman president of the company in 1959 and was replaced by Delphine Morgan later that year. Morgan then began a dramatic replacement campaign for the bus fleet. The company hired its first Black woman driver in the early 1960s and its first White woman driver in 1969.