This dissertation investigates the role of company executives' racial ideology in the relegation of black workers to inferior, lower paying jobs in the Pullman Railroad Company (1858-1969). I argue that it is important to recognize that employers, like white workers, were not driven simply by material interest; rather their actions were often guided by their ideologies and deep seated beliefs and prejudices. My argument that employers' racial ideology was a causal factor in black workers' marginalization is developed through a historical analysis of the Pullman Railroad Company archives.