The black people
Railroads
The black people also contributed to the growth of the state's economy through their participation in building the railroads used to transport coffee, among other products, to the port of Santos. "Nearby the railroad, it was possible to find medium class black families. Because it was a steady job, the black people had a fixed salary," Hélio Santos affirms.
It was a service the black man was apt to do since it required a low degree of expertise and considerable physical strength to excavate the land and set the tracks. This steady and profitable job allowed the black men to have their own homes and live in medium class areas," he states.
The black families, whose fathers and grandfathers worked with furnaces and as engine drivers had social mobility: their children became teachers, bank clerks, some managed to become lawyers, doctors, what helped their families be together and do not separate.
As prior president of Conselho Estadual da Comunidade Negra do Estado de São Paulo ("State Board of the Black Community of the State of São Paulo"), Hélio Santos has already traveled to several countryside cities, such as Araraquara, Ribeirão Preto and Campinas, to observe closely the history of so many anonymous black families, whose faces and hands helped build the country.
According to Hélio Santos, although one third of the state's population is comprised of 3.3 million black people and mulatos (blend of white and black people), the race has not consolidated their mark in places such as clubs and neighborhoods, as it happens with the Japanese, Lebanese, Italians, Turkish and Spanish. "But they continue building São Paulo and were the ones responsible for the state's foundation in the past," the economist says.